Prey of the Storm
by Serenity - formerly sb1
Summary: Sequel to THROUGH THE RAIN. Kori and Richard have been reunited after eight years and things are going great for them, but Kori's fears catch up to her threatening the peace she has finally found after so long. Can Richard protect her and keep her safe?
1. Reunited

**Yes, it's a sequel, inspired by Through the Rain. I wasn't going to bother but the story just sort of formed itself in my head and before I knew it, it was screaming "SEQUEL", so I guess I complied. Anyways hope you like it. It would be nice to get reviews, lots and lots of reviews. So please review for me, thanks.**

**Note: In Through the Rain I made a bit of a mistake, I said they reunited after 10 years when it should be something like 8, so it's going to be after 8 years in this story.**

* * *

**PREY OF THE STORM**

**Richard Grayson – 19 yrs **

**Kori Anders – 18 yrs **

**Barbara Gordon – 20 yrs**

**Bruce Wayne – will look 25 but isn't, still gorgeous though**

**Alfred – about to kick the bucket**

**There'll be more characters along the way. **

**Richard had just discovered Kori after years of separation. They had been best friends in Grade School but she and her dad moved and didn't tell Richard. (You have to read Through the Rain to get the gist of this story). So anyway, this story is taking place after Richard finds Kori and he's bringing her back to Wayne Manor.**

**Chapter 1 – Reunited **

The place hadn't changed much; it was still the large house that would take your breath away. Kori eyed the mansion curiously, was it still as wondrous inside as she had thought all those years ago? Did that chandelier still sparkle like you were looking at drops of rain on the tips of flower petals and leaves? She still remembered her time being a child when her and Richard would spend hours playing or just talking, just the two of them. Now returning back to Wayne Manor sparked all those memories again.

Richard helped her off his bike and was leading her through the doors of Wayne Manor. Kori stepped inside and gazed around at her surroundings, it truly was as beautiful as she remembered. She was admiring everything her eyes fell upon with wide eyes, until she felt Richard pull her hand further through the doorway. A tall gray butler had made an appearance and formally approached the two.

"Ah, Master Dick. I see you have returned." Then turning to Kori with a pleasant smile he said, "Miss Kori Anders, may I say it is a pleasure to be seeing you after all these years. I must admit you have certainly matured into a more charming young lady."

Kori blushed and returned the smile, hers being a lot wider at seeing the one who she considered as an old friend. "Dear Alfred," she said hugging him, "I have missed you dearly."

Alfred gently hugged back and walked them to the living room, but not before telling them that he would return with drinks and perhaps something to eat for Kori.

"Oh Alfred, do not fuss over me. I am just glad to be back to see you and Richard…" her eyes wandered the room. "By the way where is Bruce?"

"Ah yes, Master Bruce. He's in a meeting but he should be back in an hour I expect. In the meantime Miss Anders, you may make yourself at home, you will need to get used to it after all."

"_Get used to it?" _Kori turned to Richard with a confused expression after Alfred was out of sight and questioned his statement. "What did he mean by that?"

Richard smiled at her and took her by the hand leading her up the huge staircase. "You see Kori, you got me so worried when I was trying to find you that I had already decided, I wasn't going to let you go as soon as I did. So I made certain…arrangements."

"Arrangements?"

"Yeah. It was something I planned for you once I found you. I just hope you won't be mad at me when you see this."

Kori smiled and held his hand tighter while leaning in on his shoulder as they continued along the hallway. "Oh Richard, I couldn't imagine being mad at you."

Richard smiled to himself but was still a little nervous, was he even thinking when he decided this? Well, it was too late to turn back now, because they had come to a stop at a door. Richard slowly turned the knob to open it and had allowed Kori to walk inside first. What met with her eyes astonished her; a bedroom that was decorated in mostly purple, with a four poster queen size bed and with the prettiest lilac colored sheets over them. The walls were painted with a scenery of a garden so elegant one could feel they were actually there. The lace curtains added a nice subtle touch making the room more inviting to anyone who happened to walk in. Opposite the bed was a huge built in flat screen TV that seemed to merge in with the wall, and a few feet off to the side was a nice stereo surround sound system with a few CDs neatly stacked close by.

"Welcome to your room."

Kori gasped at the words that came from Richard. "Y-you did all this…for me? This is going to be my room? Everything in here is mine?"

"Of course it's yours, I had it designed myself. Bruce was fine with it so you won't have to worry about him. I know purple is your favorite color…"

"You still remembered that…what my favorite color was?"

Richard blushed. "Yeah, well, best friends _are_ supposed to remember these kinds of things. I just hope it still _is_ your favorite."

"Oh indeed it is, but I still can't believe you went to all the trouble…"

Richard didn't let her finish, he was too excited to show her the rest of her room.

"Come here, I want you to see this." He strode to a huge closet made of oak wood that stood in the corner and opened it up as Kori came behind him. She gasped for the second time in those two minutes.

"I thought with your new room you might need a new wardrobe, so I picked up a few dresses for you. And before you say it, yes I do know you're going to need a lot more than just dresses, so I was thinking we could go shop for some more clothes whenever you're ready. I wasn't sure of your size so I guessed when I bought the dresses, but don't worry, I made sure we could exchange them if these here don't fit."

Kori skimmed through each dress and was amazed at the different colors, styles, and quality of each one, mouth still hung open as if she had no control.

"Richard, these must've cost…."

"**Nothing**…nothing is too much for you." The last thing he wanted was her attention to stray away from the moment.

Kori couldn't believe any of it. The room, the clothes, her best friend, it was all suddenly handed to her on a silver plate. She felt she hadn't done anything to deserve it, any of it. She turned to Richard, tears welling up in her eyes.

"I…I can't believe you would…do all this for me. I don't know what to say."

He took both her hands in his and stared into her emerald eyes. "Say that you'll stay here, with me, always."

She gave him a huge smile before answering, "How can I refuse someone as sweet as you?"

This made Richard so happy he pulled her in for the biggest hug ever, then picking her up he twirled her around while they both laughed happily, only to be interrupted by Alfred clearing his throat.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but your refreshments are ready, and Master Bruce will be home in a few minutes."

"Great, thanks Alfred."

Alfred nodded and gave a sigh of satisfaction to himself as he walked away. Finally, it seems things were looking up for Richard, he had been so lost and needy the past few years, having Kori back in his life seemed only natural.

* * *

Bruce Wayne had arrived just as Alfred said, and was greeting Kori for the first time since she came back. He calmly went over to her and gave her a light peck on the cheek before asking her to sit down. 

"My, my Kori, you certainly have graced into an enchanting young woman, I may even go as far to say that you have inherited your mother's beauty." Kori blushed innocently while sitting on the soft leather couch, not noticing Richard getting a tad jealous at Bruce's seemingly harmless, but flirtatious comments. Sipping some lemonade from her fine lead crystal glass Kori continued the conversation. Lemonade was always a favorite drink of hers during the times she had visited the manor to see Richard all those years ago, or so Alfred remembered.

"It's good to see you too Bruce, I have missed everyone, especially Richard."

"And Dick here sure missed you, he was hell bent on finding you."

Kori turned to look at Richard and smiled warmly at him, Richard looked down as he was beginning to turn a shade of red.

"I've known that you've been in Gotham for a while because I got your messages when you were trying to contact me, apparently you even came by to the office. I'm sorry I was unable to return your calls, things have been really busy, so I told Dick about you and I guess that's how he found you."

"More ice tea, sir?"

"No thank you, Alfred."

"And anything for you madam?"

Kori giggled, which made Richard's heart flutter, her laugh was so magical to him. "Must you be so formal with me, dear Alfred?"

"I agree," said Bruce, "Kori's part of the family now."

Kori went a little nervous, biting her lip. "I hope it is no trouble me staying here."

"Nonsense. I couldn't send you away even if _you_ wanted to go. Dick here wouldn't allow it." Richard grimaced at the use of his nickname, he knew Bruce was purposely saying it in front of her to annoy him. "And besides, after all the effort he put into getting you back, I'm not so sure he'd be willing to let you slip away this time."

Bruce was always considered to be a serious man, but Kori liked the hint of humor in his voice, it made the atmosphere a little less daunting. She continued to beam a smile enjoying the company she was with. "I have to say Bruce, this place is still as wonderful as I remembered it, I would love to look around and see the rest."

"Would you like a tour?" Bruce offered.

"No!"

Both Bruce and Kori, including Alfred turned to look at Richard's strange outburst with a raised eye brow.

Richard stuttered. "W-w-what I meant to say was…No way am I gonna let Bruce get more tired after a hard day's work, he needs his rest…_Yeah, hard work. Hard to believe he does that…_So I think I'll show her around."

Bruce calmly eyed his young ward, "Well, Dick, you never worried about my health before." He paused and sipped his tea. "I was actually going to suggest that you be the one to take her."

He took this chance to note the now very red and embarrassed expression on Richard's face.

"O-oh okay. That's…good. So…I'll be showing her around then. Is that okay with you Kori?

"Yes, that would be fine." She wanted to laugh at the interaction between the two, but did her best to hold it in.

"While I go and rest, isn't that right Richard?" Richard didn't answer, instead he just took Kori's hand and led her away somewhere else.

'_Part of the family',_ Kori was still hearing those words in her head and it warmed her heart as soon as Bruce had spoken them. For the first time in a long time she felt like she belonged, loved, cared for. Could she really call this place home, was it going to be a dream that she would wake up from only to find herself back with her father, tied up with ropes, bruised and bleeding all over…no, she mustn't think these thoughts anymore. She ran away, she escaped, she took that daring step, and now her troubles seemed to be behind her. Or were they…

* * *

After showing Kori the entire mansion Richard took her out for pizza, they had a wonderful time catching up on everything they missed out on in each other's lives. Richard promised her that he would introduce her to his friends the next day, or whenever they were available; he had to admit, sometimes it seemed their schedules were more hectic than Bruce's. Kori was thrilled, she couldn't wait to see more of Richard's world, it was exactly where she wanted to be, and he was just as eager to share it with her. 

When they both came home, they were as happy as when they had been all those years ago, it was as if the eight years of separation didn't even happen. Richard had noticed that Kori was looking really tired and took it as his cue of offering to walk her to her room.

"I really enjoyed myself with you today Richard, it was fun."

"Yeah, we should spend more time like this, got eight years to make up for."

They continued up the stairs and along the hallways until they stopped outside Kori's new bedroom.

"Kori?"

"Yes?"

"There's one more thing I wanted to show you before you went to bed."

Kori eyed him curiously. "What is it?"

"Just wait here, I'll be back, okay?"

Kori nodded, still unsure of what was going on, but watched as Richard disappeared inside her room. A few seconds later he emerged and let her inside to see something she found truly amazing. On the ceiling was a hologram configure type scene of an authentic starlit night sky, complete with a realistic moon shining brightly as ever.

"I also happen to remember that you used to love watching the stars at night, sometimes we would both watch them together. I just thought it might be nice to fall asleep under an evening sky….though, I know it's not the real thing..."

"It's glorious…it looks so real. So beautiful." Kori breathed. She was too mesmerized by the sight that spread across the entire ceiling. She finally broke from her trance and turned to Richard to give him a long sweet hug, and he graciously returned it, basking in her glorious scent. He didn't want to let go, her body felt wonderful against his, so warm, so nice, he never wanted it to end, but it did. She truly was tired after that long eventful day, and Richard didn't want to keep her up.

"Well, goodnight Kor, and sweet dreams."

Just as he was leaving Kori stopped him and kissed his cheek, "Goodnight Richard, and thank you."

As dazed as a schoolboy Richard walked dreamily out of her room, and as soon he was outside her door he felt he was melting completely. _"Wow,"_ he thought, lightly touching the spot where she'd kissed him. Although he did kiss her when he found her in the park, this still felt like a first kiss, even if it was on the cheek. But he had already decided he wasn't going to rush her after all she'd been through. Right now he just wanted her to know that he was there for her, no matter what, and he will continue to be there for her to the end.


	2. Welcome to my world

**Prey of the Storm**

**Richard Grayson – 19 yrs **

**Kori Anders – 18 yrs **

**Barbara Gordon – 20 yrs**

**Bruce Wayne – will look 25 but isn't, still gorgeous though**

**Alfred – about to kick the bucket**

**Vic Stone - 21 yrs **

**Karen Beecher - 20 yrs**

**Rachel Roth 18 yrs**

**Garfield Logan 18 yrs**

**Terra Markov - 17 yrs  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Welcome to my life**

Breakfast time at Wayne Manor found Richard at the dining table while Bruce was there reading the morning paper. Richard had been eating his waffles unusually slowly, oblivious to the world around him.

"So I take it you kissed?" Bruce inquired.

"We didn't kiss!" Richard said defensively, and went back to his dream-like state.

"Actually she kissed me."

"So you _did_ kiss."

"She kissed me on the cheek, for your information."

"A kiss is a kiss, in your case anyway."

"What's that's supposed to mean!"

"Well Dick, you don't exactly act as though you're the adopted son of a billionaire."

"Because I'm not out partying all night or trying to be with as many girls as I can get? And what was all that about yesterday when you were talking to Kori? She's young enough to be your daughter. Oh Kori, you're as beautiful as your mother. Oh Kori you're so enchanting."

"So you don't want me to be nice to her?" It was the first time Bruce had looked over from his newspaper and stared at Richard, but his voice remained as calm as when he had started the conversation.

"There's 'nice', and there's _beyond_ 'nice'. What, you think I don't know when you're flirting."

"Calm down Dick, you're getting a little too way ahead of yourself."

"Yeah, whatever."

Just then Kori came in, showered and dressed. Richard turned to look at her and smiled. "So you ready to go?"

"Oh yes, I can't wait. Will we be taking your bike?" She asked, hopeful.

"Yep, just give me a sec, okay? Kori smiled and nodded as he got up from the table and felt around in his jacket for his keys.

"How did you sleep Kori?" Bruce asked her.

"Oh, like a baby. The bed was very comfortable, I felt like I was floating on air."

Richard took this opportunity to respond quickly before he let Kori be swayed by Bruce's annoyingly natural charm. "Only the best for you Kor," to which she gave a slight giggle.

As the two left Alfred came in to clear up the mess and frowned on the half eaten waffles Richard left on his plate.

"It seems the young Master has disregarded his appetite."

"He's just eager, Alfred. He wants to show little Kori his world."

Alfred collected the rest of the dishes and left to return to his duties while Bruce continued to gaze at the direction Kori and Richard departed. He was thinking about what Richard said moments ago. His compliments to Kori the day before were true to the last word. He had personally known her mother before she died, he remembered how she would come by to the Manor just to drop off something she had cooked for him. He always appreciated her intentions, she was a nice person, and beautiful without a doubt.

The first time he asked her to come inside was like a breath of fresh air, he remembered bringing her out onto the balcony to have tea with him, she had been so intrigued with her surroundings. He watched her as a gentle breeze picked up and played with her red hair and brushed against her tan skin, making her look absolutely exotic while she gazed at the scene below her over the balcony. She joined to sit with Bruce on the table he had kept on the balcony when Alfred brought the refreshments. Bruce noted everything she did, from the way she picked up her tea to the change of her facial features from gazing at everything her eyes fell upon. When she spoke it was like a melody, or perhaps like the jingling of tiny bells. Her smile was so inviting, so pleasant. She wasn't nervous being around him, she seemed to enjoy his company. When they talked it would be of normal, everyday things. For Bruce everyday talk involved the stock market and business proposals, who was taking over who, investments...but talking to this woman, well she was refreshing. It was like going for a walk without even leaving your seat, getting to experience a world he hardly got to see, and just by talking to her. He could've listened to her for hours if she hadn't remembered the time and said she should go. He walked her to the door never taking his eyes off her. As he opened the door she turned to look at him and gave him a sweet smile, thanking him for his hospitality. He lightly took her arm and kissed her on the cheek. As he pulled away he saw her blush a little, and seeming a little shocked. For her it was a bit sudden, but she wasn't protesting, though she was still trying to register what just happened as she stared into his eyes. Realizing she was standing before an open doorway she tore her gaze from Bruce and made to leave, taking one last look at him as she walked down the steps out onto the driveway towards the gate.

Yes, Bruce remembered that visit among others, every time she came by to drop something off he would ask her inside and they would talk for hours, they became closer as their friendship grew. He would invite her and her husband to formal events he would hold at his mansion, just so he could see her. She always looked so enchanting, so graceful, those were the words that came to his mind when he saw Kori for the first time yesterday. She looked just like Lou Anne, her mother.

_"She's beautiful Lou Anne, just like you always were."_

He folded his paper and got up from the table, making his way to the balcony, he decided he needed to get some fresh air

* * *

The pair were whizzing through the streets of Gotham on Richard's bike, past everything and everyone. The ride was exhilarating for Kori, she loved the feel of the wind against her face, letting her hair fly around wild and free behind her, (from what her helmet didn't cover). Richard had discovered something very interesting, he always preferred being a fast rider, so every time he would speed up he noticed Kori's arms around him holding on tighter for dear life. It made him smile to get that reaction from her. 

They eventually stopped in a nice looking neighborhood in front of an apartment building that looked posh and high class, of course not as high class as Wayne Manor but still compared to the rest of Gotham it was pretty much that. The streets were lined with trees that had fences around them, you could spy a quaint little fountain where a couple of birds had flocked to bathe in the water.

"We're here," Richard said as he got off his bike and was helping Kori off also, "Don't worry, you'll like Babs, she's really nice once you get to know her."

Kori couldn't help but admire the sophistication of the district they had arrived in, so chic, so stylish. Perhaps this vicinity reflects how this Barbara Gordon's personality was like. They walked inside through the well-designed doors across the marble floor.

"Richard…"

"Yeah?"

"I'm…I don't…what if…."

"What is it, Kori?" Richard had stopped walking and turned to look at her. "Are you okay?"

Kori bit her lip. "What if she doesn't like me, what if we don't get along. I don't want to be on anyone's bad side, especially with your friends."

Richard held her by her shoulders. "Kori, I think you're worrying a little too much."

"But Richard look at this place, it's gorgeous, it's for people who are high in status…and, I don't exactly belong."

Richard raised her chin up with his finger and made her meet his gaze. "If there's anywhere you _don't _belong, it's with your dad, but you do belong with me Kori, don't ever forget that."

At this remark she beamed and gladly followed Richard to the elevator up to Babs' place. They reached the front door and Kori got nervous again, but Richard squeezed her hand comfortingly and reassured her that everything was going to be just fine. After knocking on the door they were hearing the sound of locks being opened. The door opened to reveal a pretty looking girl of about Richard's height, she had red hair just like Kori, and her eyes were blue. She was wearing a polo neck top with a short skirt and very expensive looking shoes.

"Richard!" She greeted with a big smile. "How are you?"

"Just fine Babs," he replied back, "How's everything going?"

"Fine, fine," she said waving her arm around, "And this must be Kori." She said, turning to her giving her the same huge hug, "It's so good to finally meet you."

"The pleasure is all mine, Barbara."

Babs abruptly stopped hugging and looked at Kori. "Barbara? Honey, didn't Richard tell you? My friends call me Babs, and that includes you."

"Alright then," Kori laughed, "Babs it is."

"Good, now we got that sorted out let's go inside and get to know each other."

Babs led the way into her beautiful apartment and sat them down on her sofa.

"Okay, so what can I get you guys? Now don't be shy, feel free for whatever, I'm here to please."

"Uh, nothing for me thanks," Richard said.

"What about you Kori, there's gotta be something you might like."

"Do you have any juice?"

"Yeah, plenty of it. Dad loves the stuff, I swear he can't enough of it."

"Oh, is he here?" Richard asked.

"He's getting ready to leave, but yeah, you'll be meeting him too."

Babs had gone into the kitchen to get Kori's drink leaving her guests alone.

"So, what do you think so far?" Richard asked.

Kori was still eyeing her surroundings. "She lives in a nice place. Is it just her and her father?"

"Yeah, her dad is the Commissioner of Gotham, Commissioner Gordon is what he goes by."

Babs had soon returned with Kori's juice handing it to her with a napkin. Moments later a tall looking man had appeared with gray hair and a moustache, he was wearing a nice suit and had a pair of glasses on. Both Richard and Kori stood up as soon as they noticed him.

"Kori, this is my dad, Commissioner Jim Gordon. Dad, this is Richard's friend Kori."

Kori held out her hand to greet him, "It's nice to meet you Commissioner Gordon, I'm Kori Anders."

The Commissioner gave a welcoming smile and shook her hand. "It's good to meet you too, Kori. From what I understand you and Richard go back a long way?"

Richard took this opportunity to answer. "Yeah, ever since I first moved to Gotham. Kori used to still live here at the time."

"Yes, the name Anders does ring a bell, I think I do remember. From what I recall everyone had gathered together to pay their respects for…," At this point the Commissioner stopped abruptly and looked sorrowfully at Kori, "Oh, it was for your mother wasn't it? We gathered at _your_ house to mourn."

Kori's smile had faded a too. "Yes sir, that is right."

"My heartfelt condolences go out to you. I had attended the funeral before coming to your house where I saw Bruce Wayne; he had just recently adopted young Richard here. I don't know if you remember Kori, but I happened to be the one who investigated your mother's accident."

"I…I'm afraid I don't remember much about what happened at the time of my mother's death, but I thank you for all you did back then."

There was silence until Commissioner Gordon decided that he should get going as he went to fetch his coat.

"So Kori, hope to see you around more often. I'm sorry I can't stay but duty calls."

"It was nice to meet you, sir. I look forward to seeing you again."

After the Commissioner left it was just the three of them, talking, laughing and just getting to know each other.

"You know, Richard has told me so much about you," Babs chuckled, "I feel like I know you already. I really don't know why Kori, but he couldn't seem to stop mentioning you, even when we were dating."

Kori's eyed widened a bit. "You dated?"

Richard's heart raced, he didn't want to get into that right now, not that he hadn't planned on telling her, it was just that there hadn't been an appropriate time to bring it up. She'd only been back for what, a day and a half and already things were getting a little too personal.

"Yeah," Babs said casually, "But it was a long time ago. We just decided to be good friends."

Kori bit her lip in shame, "I'm sorry if I unintentionally caused you both to end your relationship."

Babs gave her a funny look, then turned to Richard and laughed, "Oh Richard she's adorable." She then turned back to Kori, "Kori honey, you had nothing to do with our breaking up, we just felt it was better that we stay friends, that's all. I mean we were a lot younger when we first went out and if we _were_ really meant to be then we would still be together, but we're not." Babs placed her hand on Kori's, "There's no need to feel guilty, for anything at all, alright?"

Kori smiled and nodded, then put her other hand over the one that Babs had placed. Richard blew a sigh of relief.

"So Kori, you have got to come out shopping with me, I'll take you to all the best places in Gotham, trust me once you get a taste of everything, you won't wanna leave."

"What do you think Richard, it sounds like fun." Kori said turning to look at him.

"Nah, you guys go on. I'll find something to do."

"Oh, forget him, he's too much of a bore to have fun anyway." Richard glared at Babs and Kori couldn't help but laugh at her remark.

"So, I guess we'd better be going," Richard said getting up. He'd obviously had enough.

"Already?" Babs exclaimed, "Where does the time go? But Richard, you have to promise to bring Kori back, if you don't, then I'll be coming to get her myself."

Kori laughed. "Don't worry Babs, I'm sure I can make him bring me over. After all, we red heads need to stick together."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Babs laughed as she stood up to give Kori a hug goodbye.

"Yeah well, anyway Babs," Richard said, "I'll see ya later."

As Richard followed Kori out the door Babs grabbed his arm. "Hey, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Richard eyed curiously then turned back to Kori and said, "You go on ahead okay, I'll be right there," then making sure she was out of earshot he turned to Babs. "Everything okay?"

"Are you ever planning on telling her?"

"Telling her what?"

Babs gave an annoyed look. "You know what," she muttered. "Our other duties...I don't think she needs to know, Richard."

"What?" he said, surprised. "She deserves to know. We tell each other everything."

"Do you know the kind of risks you'd be taking if you told her?"

Richard gave a sigh. "I'll think about it Babs, alright?" he said before walking off.

"Alright," she said giving a defeating sigh as she closed the door.

Outside Richard mounted his bike and helped Kori on. He was glad to get that over with.

"I like her, she's really nice," Kori said while Richard was getting his helmet on.

"Yeah, you two certainly hit it off. She's already threatening to come and take you away from me," he said sarcastically. "I had to admit though, I was kinda nervous about this meeting."

"Because you thought we wouldn't get along?"

"Yeah, I wasn't sure how you two would react to each other, but I'm not so worried anymore."

She watched him as he began to rev up the bike. "So, what were you two talking about just now?"

Richard stiffened. "Nothing, just don't worry about it, okay?" He soon had them speeding off out of the neighborhood and into the city. It was there that they stopped at a café where they shared a muffin with a cappuccino each.

"So...about me and Babs dating," he started after a long silence, "I was meant to tell you..."

Kori placed her hand on his, "Richard, it's alright. I didn't mind hearing about it, it surprised me a little yes, but truly, I'm fine with it." She leaned in closer to him with a playful smirk and lowered her voice so only he could hear her. "Did you think I was going to get jealous?"

Getting closer as well he replied in the same volume. "I don't know. Maybe."

"Do you want me to get jealous?" Their faces were really close and only inches apart. Richard was about to say something when his phone rang, but he didn't move, only carried on staring into her eyes. The phone however rang continuously.

"Aren't you going to get that?" Kori asked him.

"Get what?"

"The phone," she giggled.

"Oh yeah," he said taking it out and flipping it open. "Hello? Oh hey Vic, what's up? Yeah...yeah. Oh, alright then. We're at La Tess. Yeah the same cafe. Alright, bye. That was Vic. He says he'll be here in five minutes, he won't be able to meet us at his place, says he's gotta be somewhere else."

Kori nodded and continued to eat the muffin. She asked Richard if he wanted anymore as it was almost finishing but he refused, but she thought it would be fun to tease him a little.

"Are you sure you don't want any..." She said almost seductively as she slowly took a bite pretending to really enjoy it "...because it's sooo good."

Richard stared at her for a moment getting into watching her every move like a really good movie. He didn't realize his mouth was beginning to water, but it wasn't because of the muffin, it was her. Listening to that voice, that seductive, sweet voice. He watched Kori take each tiny bite as if to revel in its taste for as long as possible. Suddenly he decided he _was _a little peckish.

"Gimme the dam muffin." He tried to grab it from her hand but she swiped it away out of reach.

"Too late Richard, you already said you didn't want it," she teased playfully.

He attempted to wrestle her for it and she laughed as she continued to keep it out of his reach. _"I wonder if she's still ticklish,"_ he thought. Kori got a little nervous at the maniacal look that crept up on his face, she knew he was planning something. She bit on her lip in excitement, and then Richard launched his tickle attack onto her. Kori screamed in laughter while he attacked mercilessly. They were oblivious to everyone around them, including the tall looking man standing right in front of them.

"Richard, stop," she cried out in laughter.

"Never," he playfully growled.

"Am I interrupting something?"

The two looked up to the tall figure before them, panting, faces red from their little game.

"Vic! You made it," Richard said getting up to greet his friend, "So how ya doing, what've you been up to?"

"Nothing much, but I see you've been busy," he said, eyeing them both with a witty smile.

"Er...yeah, anyway this is Kori, the one I wanted you to meet."

Victor stared at her for a second as if trying to grasp reality, then shook her hand, "Yeah, Kori, I've heard a great deal about you. Just call me Vic, everyone else does."

"It's nice to meet you. You should try the muffins here, they're very tasty," she said catching a glance at Richard. He gave the same maniacal smile as if to say: this isn't over yet. She just smiled back, and then told the guys that she was going to the rest room, she needed to fix herself up after the wrestling match she just experienced. Vic and Richard sat down to talk while waiting for the latte Vic had ordered.

"So that's her then, that's the girl that's been driving you nuts all these years. Well, she seems real nice, and you two really seemed to get along from what I saw earlier."

Richard blushed, "Yeah, she's a great friend."

"Only a friend?"

"I just wanna take it slow with her you know, she's been through a lot. She's probably not even ready for a relationship yet."

"If you ask me you should make your move...before someone else does."

"Come on Vic, she doesn't even know anybody here."

"She don't need to, a pretty thing like her, she's already getting attention."

"What are you talking about?" Richard eyed him suspiciously.

"Xavier was asking me about her, said he saw her with you and thought I would know who she was, me being your friend and all. Listen man, if you really like her then don't let her get away. What good will it do finding her only to lose her to a jerk like X."

Richard had to agree, Xavier, or X as he was also known as could have any girl he wanted. Once he set his sights on someone he would never stop until that girl was his. Richard needed Kori too much to let her go to someone else, especially to someone like Xavier. But Kori had been through a tough time, she was fragile, could she trust anyone to start something more with them? He admitted he liked her lot, that was why he kissed her when he found her in the park...and she didn't mind. Then maybe she wouldn't mind a relationship either.

"Richard? Richard? Hello?"

"Maybe a kiss will snap him out of it." Vic joked making Kori giggle.

This jerked Richard out of his thoughts somewhat startled. "Kori, I didn't know you were back."

"Well, as you can see I am, and I've been calling your name for a while now." She joked as Richard blushed again for the second time.

"Sorry, guess I was lost in my thoughts."

"So Kori," Vic started, "There's this new club opening up tonight, you and Rich have to come, you can meet the rest of the gang."

Kori turned to look at Richard for approval, just looking at her innocent face he could agree to jump off a building. He told Vic they'll be there much to Kori's happiness.

* * *

**7:40pm**

Richard was waiting patiently for Kori while she was getting ready for their night out, they were supposed to meet the gang at around 8pm. Alfred had come by asking if there was anything else they needed, but Richard dismissed him telling him that everything was fine and not to wait up for them. He was soon hearing the sound of footsteps coming along the hallway and looked up to see Kori emerge from the top of the stairs. She wore black boot cut jeans, and a red halter top with the straps tied around her neck. Her hair was down but slightly curled from the ends. Richard watched her descend, purse in hand with a huge smile on her face.

"You look great, Kori," he said dreamily.

"Thanks, you don't look so bad yourself, handsome."

"_She called me 'handsome'."_ He stayed in his dreamy daze, but he was snapped out of it when Kori started calling his name and was waving her hand in front of his face.

"So, where's Bruce, I haven't seen him for hours."

"He's uh...busy." Kori couldn't help notice that his gaze was fixed on one of the candle holders on the wall.

"So shall we go?" he said, offering an arm to her.

"Gladly."

He walked with her out to his bike, which he had parked outside the front door while Kori was getting ready. She had admitted to Richard that she loved riding on his bike, it made her feel like she was flying, so he had bought her a purple bike helmet of her own with a shooting star on it.

She sighed dreamily as she sat behind him wrapping her arms around his body, resting her head on him. He felt her warmness, it was comforting, it was sweet, and he wanted it to last. At that point he had already decided to take the long route to get there, just to have her around him like this for as long as possible. Who cares if they were late, it wasn't as if their friends were going to do anything about it. Some nagging, some scowling, and they'd forget all about it. He turned the key starting the engine and they shot off at high speed, making Kori scream in delight.

"This is thrilling, Richard," she shouted as they raced away at speed.

The night lights of the city merged into a blurry image as they passed by, just by glancing at them Kori could tell how fast they were going.

"You okay?" came Richard's voice.

"Never better, this is so much fun," she laughed in reply.

He couldn't help smiling as he accelerated even faster and Kori screamed even more enjoying the ride, holding onto him tighter. After the ride of her life she felt the bike slowing down and gave a slight frown. Richard pulled in and both took their helmets off, then turning to her he saw that she was in a daze with a pensive smile plastered on her face.

"Kori?"

"Hmm?" she replied just as dreamily.

"You enjoyed that, didn't you?"

She gave a ludicrous giggle and he just laughed pulling her off the bike and lacing her hand in his.

There was a huge line at the entrance, but that didn't seem to concern Richard, all he had to do was let the bouncer see him and he was in. Being a well known figure in Gotham it wasn't hard to get access to these kinds of things so easily, people knew him and they respected him. He _was_ the adopted son of a playboy billionaire, though as Bruce said, he didn't act like one. He did go to clubs on occasion with his friends but you wouldn't see him trying to score girls' phone numbers or taking them home. The press had often caught him entering or leaving these clubs but he was either with his friends or he was alone.

Richard led Kori inside and slid his arm tightly around her tiny waist so as not to lose her in the bustling crowds, (but it was also an excuse to hold her in that way). They kept shuffling past the crowds of people until they reached a clearing where a voice called out, "Richard, yo Richard!" It was Vic and he was sitting with a dark skinned looking girl to his right. They proceeded to where Vic and his friend were seated.

"Richard, you made it dawg."

"Hey Vic."

"Hey, Kori," Vic said turning to her. "Dam, you look hot."

She smiled with a reply, "Why thank you, Vic."

"So what do you think, aint this place sweet or what?"

Both Kori and Richard agreed as they sat down next to Vic's friend.

"Oh, bye the way Kori, this is Karen. Karen, Kori."

Karen who had been sipping her martini, turned her attention to the new arrival. "So _you're_ Kori, well it's a pleasure to meet you at last."

It was funny that everyone she had met had acted like they already knew her. She remembered Babs had said that Richard was always talking about her, even when they were dating. Who talks about their best friend like that when they're involved with someone else? Did he really think that much about her when they were apart, as much as she thought of him, or dare she think it…more?

"What will you have Kor?"

She got startled as Richard's voice registered in her brain. "Sorry, what?"

"I said, what would you like to drink?"

"Oh…juice please, for now."

"Alright, be right back, okay?"

The four friends had been busy engrossed in heavy conversation when they noticed a group of people coming their way.

"Hey look, the rest of the guys are here," said Vic.

Kori assumed they were the 'gang' that Vic had mentioned about earlier at the café. They came over and made their greetings. Richard had pulled Kori with him to introduce her to them.

"Guys, this is Kori," he said proudly.

The others gasped. Kori raised an eyebrow at Richard, while he gave her the same look she was giving him. Did they miss something?

"This is Kori? As in _the_ Kori?" said one of them.

"Yeah….what's with all the looks?" asked Richard, still trying to understand where this was going.

They began whispering amongst themselves and Richard was getting a little annoyed.

"Guys! What is up with you?"

"Oh, sorry Rich", said a boy with green streaks in his hair, "it's just that you never told us the 'friend' you were bringing was Kori, the one you've been driving us crazy over because you couldn't find her. We can't believe that we're finally face to face with her."

A girl with blonde hair spoke up. "Yeah, I mean, you were hell bent just to know where she was."

A dark haired goth girl came forward and eyed Kori up and down. "By the look on your face I guess you're wondering what the hell we're all talking about."

Kori was bewildered; she was trying to figure out why they were so shocked to see her in the first place. "I…"

"Don't worry, I'll fill you in. The name's Rachel by the way, and that's Garfield with the hideous green streaks, and she's Terra."

"Nice to meet you. I see you already know who I am," Kori said as she smiled at them.

"Well, anyway," Raven continued, "we've known Richard ever since elementary school, and since then all we ever heard was stuff about you. He told us what happened, how you suddenly moved away with your dad, how you lost your mom, and how he wished he knew where you were."

"Yeah," interrupted Garfield, "we thought sooner or later he'd forget about you but we were so wrong."

"He dedicated so much time into finding you," Raven continued, "Sometimes when we would ask him to hang out it was always: No, I have to find Kori. No, I can't give up on her."

"My god," Kori finally said, and caught a glimpse of Richard, who was silent but blushing from embarrassment every now and then.

"We were wondering if you even existed," the blonde haired girl named Terra said as she chuckled.

"Well, I'm glad that Richard didn't forget me," she said with a smile.

Kori had met the gang, and the gang it seems had finally met Kori; Richard's long lost best friend. They had a wonderful time getting into finding out more about her. Richard felt pushed aside but didn't mind too much, he was happy his dearest friend attracted so much positive interest. Gar snuck back to stand with him, leaving the girls to continue their conversation.

"She's pretty hot, Rich. Don't you agree?"

"Um…" he nervously began looking elsewhere.

"Come on dude, you know you like her. Who wouldn't, I mean look at that…"

"Just shut it, okay?" Richard knew exactly what he was going to say when he followed Garfield's stare to a certain part of her body.

Garfield grinned like a Cheshire cat, "See, already getting protective of her. So have you asked her out yet?"

"What…I mean….no…well I……"

"What he means is…" Vic cut in, "…the guy's crazy about her, but he aint sure if she'll agree to go out with him."

"What? Come on man, look at you, no one can turn _you_ down, and how hard could it be to ask her?" Garfield said looking shocked at Richard.

"Look guys, I'll ask her when the time's right."

"And that is what, ten years from now, or is it when she finds someone else and maybe even gets married to them."

"Now you're being dramatic Gar," Richard told him.

Vic draped an arm around Richard's shoulder, a beer bottle in the other hand, "Look man, remember what I said, grab her before someone else does. This _is_ Gotham, you know."

Richard nodded and sighed.

"Richard, Richard."

He looked up to see an excited Kori calling his name and coming towards him, "Terra told me about this theme park with rides and roller-coasters, and even a Ferris Wheel…I think that is what she called it…anyway, everyone else is going…"

"And let me guess, you wanna go too?"

She batted her eyelashes at Richard while giving him the cute puppy dog pout. He thought she looked so adorable.

"Yeah sure, why not."

She squealed and gave him a big hug, Richard lived to see her happy like this and chuckled. He hugged back getting smirks from Vic and Garfield. Kori pulled back suddenly at the sound of the next song that played. It was a slow tune.

"Oh I like this song," she said.

"Then how about a dance?" Richard offered.

She would've agreed but then remembering something she frowned.

"Hey, what's wrong? I thought you said you liked this song."

"I do, but I'm afraid I don't know how to dance."

"Say no more," he said as he led her to the dance floor.

"Richard, I told you I can't..."

She couldn't finish as she gasped at the sudden strength Richard had pulled her close to him possessively, looking into her eyes, "Do you trust me?" He asked softly.

"With my life," she answered just as softly, lost in his blue-eyed stare.

And then he swayed gently with her still in his arms.

"Just move your feet with mine," he said.

Their friends watched as the two were mesmerized in their dance together.

"They're a really cute couple," Karen commented.

"It would be nice if they actually were a couple," said Vic.

"You mean they're not?!" asked a shocked Karen.

"Not what?" Terra cut in.

"Not going out, they're not a couple."

"Who?"

"Those two over there," she said signaling towards Richard and Kori with her head.

"What? Them? No way. Anyone would think they're already in love. I don't get it."

"I know," Karen said, "they so need to get together."

"Sooner or later Richard will do the right thing," said Raven. "Either his common sense will take over or his hormones. The way I see it, it shouldn't be long now."

"Maybe you need to be their love councilor," Garfield joked only to receive a death glare from her.

The whole group stood outside the club now chattering away, planning on more things to do. They said they'd check their schedules and get back to them on it, but were now determined to meet in the near future in order to get to hang out with Kori. After their goodbyes and farewells they went their own separate ways, and Kori and Richard headed towards the bike. The couple stood there, Richard leaning against it with Kori in his arms.

"You're friends are nice."

"Glad you like them." He rested his forehead against hers. "So what do you wanna do now?" he asked softly.

"Maybe take a walk, in the park perhaps?"

"Sounds good." They continued to stare in each other's eyes.

"Thanks for teaching me to dance."

"Your welcome."

Their eyes were locked, the moment was theirs, and they knew what was coming next. Slowly they leaned their faces towards each other, their lips about to meet, and then…

"Hey Rich! You forgot your phone."

It was Garfield jogging up to them, phone in hand.

"Lucky I came by right?"

"Yeah, real lucky," Richard said through gritted teeth. "Thanks."

"Anytime. I wasn't interrupting anything was I?"

"No, butt in anytime, it's not like we were trying to have a private moment or anything?" Richard replied sarcastically.

"Oh good, coz it looked like you guys were busy."

"You think?" Richard muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing?"

"Okay, I'm gonna head off, it was nice meeting you Kori, I'll see ya around," and he ran off back in the direction he came from.

Kori couldn't help but laugh at the expression on Richard's face. He sighed in defeat looking up at the sky, which made him remember Kori saying something about going to the park.

* * *

The air was just right for a stroll along the garden pathways, this park really was worth coming to. Kori marveled at the variety of interesting places Richard knew, this place was so peaceful...and romantic. She nuzzled herself against his shoulder, and his arm, which was already around her tightened, pulling her further into him protectively. Richard looked around to make sure Garfield or anyone else wasn't there to ruin their moment like before. He would've been kissing Kori if it wasn't for that interruption. Why did Gar have to forget his phone at home so he could borrow Richard's phone in the club? Well that was all in the past, and it was just him and Kori now. The sweet scent of her glided up his nostrils and soothed his senses, he found himself relaxing and immediately at peace. He never wanted the feeling to go away. She had shifted a little so as to rest her head on his shoulder and snuggle into his neck. The moment was true bliss. 

"So...have you dated anybody in the past?" It was a question he tried not to think of, but couldn't resist the urge to know.

"Well...not really I suppose. If I did have a boyfriend I would've had to bring him home eventually, and Daddy never approved of me bringing anyone home, even if it was just a friend."

He heard her inhale sharply and felt her go stiff.

"Everything alright?" They had stopped walking and she lifted her head up but her gaze was low.

"It's just...a memory...of something that happened once. It's nothing, don't worry."

He took her hand and tried to see her green orbs, "Please Kori, I can't stand to see you suffer. If it bothers you it bothers me. Will you tell me about it?"

She had finally looked at him into his ocean blues, "Alright."

"I was 13 then, there was a project at school where the teacher had assigned us study partners. Mine was a boy called Josh, he was really nice, helpful and sweet, couldn't hurt a fly. We talked about how we would go about doing our project, then he proposed that we meet after school to work on it...at my house. I was a little hesitant, at the time I didn't know what Daddy would say, but then I thought that if I told him Josh was a friend and my study partner, maybe he'd understand. So I agreed to let him come over."

Kori's breathing had become sharp, and Richard was gazing at her mysteriously.

"So we got to my house and Daddy's...friends, they were there. They were always there, so I introduced Josh to them and even told them that we'd be in my room studying. They didn't seem to care but just carried on as normal."

Kori had walked over to a nearby tree and put her hand on it for support while she continued her story.

"We'd been studying for about an hour when the door of my bedroom flew open and there stood Daddy. He-he was angry..." She was beginning to sob now, "...he stormed inside and asked me what we were doing. I tried to explain, I truly did. I told him Josh was here as my study partner and we had a project to do, but he didn't listen. Instead he started yelling and told Josh to get out. Poor Josh was so frightened all he could do was quickly grab what he could and leave. Daddy called one of his friends to throw him out and then he turned to me."

Her hand that she had placed on her shoulder while the other being on the tree started to shake...

**_Flashback..._**

_Kori's father came back inside her room and slammed the door shut. He eyed Kori with venom._

_"What the hell do you think you were doing?"_

_A frightened 13 year old girl cowered in fear. "N-nothing."_

_He advanced towards her. "I think you need to be taught a thing or two young lady." He began unbuckling his belt and taking it off._

_Kori knew what was going to happen and feared for her life. "I-I'm sorry Daddy, we were just trying to study."_

_"Don't **LIE **to me!"_

_WHACK across her face._

_"Daddy please, I'm so sorry."_

_"SHUT UP!"_

_WHACK_

_"Daddy!" A sobbing little Kori grasped her arm in pain._

_WHACK_

_She fell knocking some things over. _

_KICK_

_"You will learn respect young lady!"_

_WHACK_

_"Respect for my rules..."_

_KICK_

_"Respect in this household..."_

_SLAP_

_"Respect for ME!"_

_Kori screamed and cried the whole time._

_**With Josh...**_

_"Hey, we weren't doing anything I swear."_

_"Listen kid," said the guy who was told to throw Josh out (his name was Felix) "She aint supposed to invite anyone over."_

_"What, not even to study?"_

_"Look kid, her old man, he don't like people he don't know coming over, especially without his permission."_

_Josh looked nervously back up the stairs where he just came down from, as if to try and see Kori's room. "Is Kori gonna be alright?"_

_"It's best you don't know."_

_Felix took Josh outside of the house before Kori's father came back. "Look, it's better if you don't talk to Kori at all, stay away from her, for your sake and hers, you got it?"_

_Josh was still confused but nodded, he didn't want to leave Kori but what could he do, so he nervously left the grounds and walked home._

_The sounds of banging, shouting and screaming could be heard from outside Kori's room as Felix stood there shaking his head in regret. "Dammit Myan, why do you have to be like this with her, she's just a kid," he quietly said to himself._

_Just the door opened and Myan (Kori's father) had emerged, storming past Felix. Felix peered inside the bedroom to see that it was left in a tip. Things were on the floor, broken, smashed, he could even see blood here and there. And there was little Kori, lying on the floor sobbing away. He caught a glimpse of her face which was covered in blood and bruises, so much that he couldn't even recognize her. He shut the door and left her to cry alone…._

**_End Flashback._**

Richard stood there frozen, he couldn't move. Was this the kind of life Kori had lived? He knew her father was strict and had a temper but he never anticipated it to be like that, the way Kori just described. He saw her crying quietly into her hands and walked up to her taking her into a fierce hug. There were no words, just the feel of each other's warm bodies. They remained in that position for a long time.

* * *

Rachel and Gar decided to go to a cafe as an end to their clubbing night, it was a favorite hang out of Rachel's. Why? Because of the usually dark and depressing poetry readings they had. Gar never went for that sort of thing, but he didn't mind going if he got to hang out with someone, and preferably that would be with Rachel. They sat in a corner on a small table together, talking away, well Gar was, Rachel was focused more on listening to the poems. 

"You understand all this?"

Rachel's eyes traveled wearily to Gar as if she couldn't even be bothered to answer the question.

"Come on, Rae. These people act like they've never heard of happiness."

"It's how some people prefer to be expressive, even if it is only their dark thoughts and feelings. Sometimes it serves as a good outlet for them."

Gar slumped back in his seat, bored. He wanted to talk about something else, something interesting.

"So, that Kori seems like a nice girl."

Rachel didn't respond.

"I can't believe all his constant searching paid off," said Gar.

"Richard certainly proved his point. Just goes to show, you should never give up," said Rachel. She suddenly looked away and began furrowing her eyebrows while rubbing her chin.

"Something wrong?"

"It's just..."

"Just what?"

"I don't know, there's something about her. I can't put my finger on it."

"Come on, she's perfect. What could be wrong with her?"

"Okay, she's never seen a carnival or a theme park, she asked what a Drive-Thru was, she acts like she's experiencing most things for the first time in her life. It's like she's been cooped up all this time, kept prisoner and not allowed to see the world. I can't explain it, but it's like I can sense a dark vibe from her."

The next thing she heard was Gar laughing his head off. "Oh Rache, you almost make her sound like she's an alien."

"Fine. I bet you'd rather listen to these boring poems than have an intelligent conversation."

"Aw lighten up, that Kori seems normal enough. And besides, if Richard likes her then she must be okay."

Rachel decided to drop the subject for now, but she still couldn't shake the feeling Kori's past held a secret, she was keeping something hidden behind those sweet smiles. She may need to have a talk with Richard later on.

* * *

Richard and Kori had continued their walk through the park, this time they talked of things they were planning to do over the course of the next few months. Kori was interested in going to college to get some qualifications, she would ask Bruce if he knew of some good places to apply. Richard was happy she wanted to get her life back on course, maybe it would help make up for the painful past she experienced. 

"Did you know that this is one of my favorite places to come and think, but I like coming here when it's dark and there's no one around, it tends to be quieter, you know. So, do you like it here?"

"I love it," she breathed. "But do you think we could come back in the morning? I know it won't be the same as it is now but…"

"Sure, why not," he said. Then he frowned, which didn't go unnoticed to Kori.

"Is anything the matter?"

"It's just a shame they're gonna bulldoze over this place."

"What!?" Kori cried out.

"Yeah, in a few months it will all be gone."

"But...they just can't do that. How can anyone destroy something so beautiful?"

"I don't like it anymore than you do Kori. I really don't. But look, I promise we'll come back here tomorrow morning, okay. There's still time to enjoy it."

"I suppose," said an already depressed Kori.

They left the park, feeling somewhat dejected, but as Richard promised, they would be back the next morning.

"Do you remember when I used to come over to the Manor and we had that deliciously flavored ice cream together?"

"You mean mint chocolate chip?"

Kori nodded excitedly like a little child.

"Yeah, well Alfred stopped bringing that home ever since he noticed I stopped eating it. It was right after you left. It was hard to enjoy without you so I just couldn't eat it anymore. But hey, I know this place that's still open where we could get some. Wanna go?"

"I'd love to."

As they walked out of the park towards the bike Richard wondered if Kori's emotional scars would ever heal. He couldn't imagine the kind of pain she went through and how she managed to hide it so well. If there was one thin he admired about her at that moment, it was that she was the strongest person he'd ever come to know.

* * *

**Damn, there's so much fluff even I feel sick. So, that's the second chapter for you. Everyone is being so nice, even Babs. It's all happy wappy, what could go wrong, right? Don't worry, you're about to see. The flashback should've given you enough of a clue. I was thinking of making a Batman, Robin, and Batgirl appearance. Whatdya think? **

**Oh well, review and tell me what you think of this chapter and where things ought to go with each character. By the way, Xavier (Red X) might be swinging by.**


	3. Discoveries of the Past

**Okay, a short chapter but honestly, I don't know what else to write. Thanks for all the reviews. Happy reading.**

* * *

**Prey of the Storm **

**Chapter 3 – Discoveries from the past**

Bruce caught Richard in the library that afternoon skimming through a book he had picked up.

"So did you have fun last night?"

Richard didn't look up but carried on with what he was doing. "Yeah, it was good. Kori really enjoyed herself."

"Where's Kori now?"

"She's out shopping with Babs," he replied plainly.

Bruce raised an eyebrow. "And you passed up an opportunity to spend time with your two favorite red heads?"

Richard didn't even bother dignifying that with an answer, it wasn't like he was going to win with Bruce anyway. He heard Bruce pace over to the other side of the library sipping the drink in his hand.

"You know I was thinking..."

_"This can't be good,"_ thought Richard.

"...of holding a ball in celebration for our Kori."

"A ball? For Kori?"

"Why not?" Bruce said in his calm monotone voice, "I think she'll love it, don't you?"

"Yeah, maybe but...why are you going to so much trouble anyway?"

Bruce smiled. "Wouldn't you say she's worth it? And besides, it will give us a chance to introduce her to everyone." He was about to take another sip when his eyes rose to meet Richards from the rim of the glass. "You don't mind sharing her now, do you Richard."

He could clearly hear the taunt in Bruce's voice, but that remark only got a glare from him.

"Then it's settled, two days from now, we're having a ball to commemorate Kori's return."

"Two days?" Richard's eyes widened. "You already planned this didn't you? I guess I better tell Kori as soon as she gets back, she'll need to prepare and everything," he sighed.

"There's no need to worry about that Dick, I already took care of it."

Richard glared at him curiously "What do you mean…you already told her!?"

Bruce couldn't help a light chuckle escape his lips, "And you should've seen the look on her face too."

"And I suppose I'm the _last_ one to know about all this, right? Well thanks a lot."

"Try and lighten up, will you? Everything will turn out fine, you'll see."

"Yeah, especially when you're running the show." Richard muttered as he stormed out.

* * *

**With Babs and Kori…**

"I can't believe there are so many stores here, and there's still so many I haven't seen yet."

"Told you so," Babs grinned.

They were both surrounded by shopping bags around their feet as they sat down at the Food Court sipping on their drinks. Babs looked like she shopped the entire mall, her fingers were still aching from the weight of stuff she had been carrying around. Kori was surprised that she could spend so freely without a second thought, though she herself hardly remembered having any financial burdens she didn't have the privilege to wander around and do as she pleased like this. They sat in silence for a while until Kori spoke.

"Um, Babs, do you mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure, fire away."

"What was it like when you and Richard were...together?"

"Hmmm...well, it was nice, we got along great when he would take me out. We'd go to the movies, the arcade, I even convinced him to come out shopping with me. Yeah, we had fun." She mindlessly stirred her hot chocolate as she stared into space recollecting to Kori about her past relationship with Richard. "But sometimes it just felt odd."

"How so?" Kori asked with an intriguing look.

"Well, when we kissed it was like, I don't know...weird. He didn't mind it I guess, but he never...got into it, at least that's what it felt like. It was like he was scared or something. Anyway all we did was kiss, it never went beyond that if you know what I mean, so there's no need for worry." Babs gave her a sly smile.

"W-why would you think I would be worried." Kori asked a little hesitantly, voice unusually higher pitched than normal, and nervous at what Babs was implying.

"Oh come on, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I've seen the way he's all google eyes over you, it's so adorable. And don't think you don't have it just as bad, you've fallen hard for him too. I've seen the chemistry between you guys, can't hide it from me, you know."

Kori blushed profusely letting out small giggles.

"So? Has he made the plunge? Has he asked you out yet?"

Looking down at her hands in her lap Kori replied, "No."

"Do you want him to?" The answer was obvious but Babs wanted to hear it from her, but there was no response.

"Kori? Hello?" And still nothing from the shy red head. "Okay, how about I ask you a different question. Is it love?"

Her head shot up to meet Babs' smirking face.

"I-I-I..."

"Stuttering are we? Well that says a lot. Still, I need to hear you say it."

"I..."

"Yes? I'm waiting."

"I..."

"Spit it out Kori."

"Yes, okay?"

"Yes what?"

"Yes, it is love. I...love him," the last part was more like a whisper but Babs had still heard. Kori could hardly believe what she just admitted. Have her feelings really evolved to love? But it's such a strong emotion; a bond that once formed is hard to break. Kori did like Richard, a lot as it happens, but it never crossed her mind that she was harboring this kind of feeling in her heart.

"There, now that wasn't so hard was it?" Babs' smirk grew even wider. "I take it Mr. Neurotic hasn't made his move yet."

"Huh? Er, no." Actually, she still remembered that night they almost kissed outside the club, only to be interrupted by Garfield, but she didn't want to disclose those details to Babs. "I'm sure when the time is right he'll know what to do."

"I hope you're right Kori, boys can be...complicated."

* * *

Babs said she needed to see her father on brief matters so they had stopped at his work on the way back. Everyone there knew Babs as she was a regular visitor so they allowed her to go through to see Commissioner Gordon without any questions. They walked past all the cubicles, past the people who looked like they were working, and some who actually were, and finally reaching the Commissioner's office. Babs knocked on his door and peeked inside but there was nobody there. 

"I'll go see if he's around, wait inside until I get back," and with that she left her inside Commissioner Gordon's office to go look for her father.

It wasn't a very big room, suitable for one person. There was the desk of course, which took up the most space, a file cabinet in the corner, and some other office equipment. She happened to notice the messy piles of papers on the desk and had the sudden urge to tidy them up (a habit she inherited from her mother) but decided against it. It was then that a certain file had caught her eye as it was titled: **Anders File**.

Lots of people had the name Anders, so this file wouldn't have anything to do with her family in particular, right? She would just take a peek, nothing wrong with looking now, was there. Hastily she picked it up and opened to read the first page.

**Case #: 223453 **

**Date: April 30th 1999**

**Victim: Lou-Anne Anders**

**Cause of death: Car crash**

It was clearly her mother's case file. She had to carry on reading down the rest of the page; her old Gotham address, her phone number, names of family members the deceased resided with – nothing out of the ordinary there. She saw a sub heading that said **SUMMARY **and started reading that. It talked about the accident and where it happened, mention of witnesses, but then she found herself gasp.

"_Vehicle was completely totaled. It was traveling at 80mph when it crashed. Brakes are believed to have been tampered with making it difficult to stop. No traces of alcohol were found in the driver…."_

"Tampered with?" Was this report suggesting that her mothers accident….was no accident? She skimmed through the file and came to the disturbing pictures of the actual accident itself. It showed the car, wrecked, and the blood covered body of her mother. Her hand was hanging out the window of the door, blood dripping from it. Kori stood there unable to move. She never thought she would see these images of her own mother. Suddenly she heard muffled voices outside getting closer and closer. She didn't want to get caught reading that file so she made sure to put it back the way she found it, grabbed a newspaper that was lying around and sat down on a chair, pretending to read it. The door opened and Babs' head reared itself inside.

"Hey, come on Kor, time to go."

"O-oh, alright." Kori got up and made her way outside the office. She saw the Commissioner coming up to them and politely greeted Kori.

"Hello there, Kori. Good to see you again. Heard you two have been out on the town. Babs hasn't gotten you into any trouble yet has she?"

"Daddy!" Babs playfully scolded. The Commissioner smiled and patted his daughter on the back.

"You alright Kori, you're looking kinda pale," Babs noted.

"Fine!" she replied a little too quickly. "Just maybe a little tired, that's all."

Babs gave her an odd gaze but shook it off. "Well let's get you home then."

As the girls left Commissioner Gordon stared suspiciously after Kori. He turned to look at the door of his office, then back at Kori. He furrowed his eyebrows and went inside his office shutting the door.

* * *

Kori, who would normally have been talking away with Babs, was quiet the whole way until they pulled in to the Manor. Richard answered the door and his face lit up at seeing Kori again. She tried to put on a decent smile as he stepped aside for the girls to walk in. 

"So how was it? Did you have a good time?" He asked eagerly.

"It was fine," was all Kori had said and then Richard also noticed her paleness as she placed her bags by the stairs. "You okay Kor? You don't look so good."

"Fine, really, I'll be in my room if you need me." Both Babs and Richard watched as she picked up her things and headed upstairs. When she was out of earshot Richard turned to Babs, glaring. Babs didn't like it.

"What?"

"You know what," said Richard, "why is she being like this, what did you do to her?"

Babs put up her arms defensively. "Nothing I swear."

"She wasn't like this when she left with you. What happened?" Richard was losing his temper.

"Honestly Rich, you think I would've done something to her? She was fine when we were in the mall, we shopped, we talked, and then we stopped off to see my dad."

"Why did you take her there for? Don't you know the kinds of creeps that get brought into that Police Station?" The volume of Richard's voice was getting higher.

Babs folded her arms defensively, "It's not like anything would've happened to her! Geez lighten up!"

Their bickering caused both Bruce and Alfred to come into the foyer to find out what was going on, but still their presence was oblivious to the two that were arguing.

"Alright! That is enough!" Bruce bellowed, silencing them. "Now would one of you care to explain what has gotten you two so worked up?"

Neither of them felt like answering, instead Babs just said she had to go and left without as much as a goodbye. Richard went upstairs leaving Bruce and Alfred in bewilderment. They soon went about their own thing and the Manor was quiet again.

Meanwhile Kori, lying on her bed, was lost in her own thoughts, she wasn't aware of the argument that just took place downstairs, she was too preoccupied in her discovery earlier today. A soft knock came from her bedroom door and Richard's voice asking if he could come in. When she didn't respond he opened the door slightly and peeked his head inside.

"Kori?"

She hadn't heard him when he was outside her room and was startled somewhat when he came in. "Oh, Richard. I'm sorry, did you need something?" She had propped herself up with her elbows.

Richard came in and sat beside her on the bed. Kori noticed he was looking straight into her eyes, as if trying to read her mind, and as hard as she tried, she couldn't tear her gaze away from his hypnotic blues. Finally, he lightly took her hand and asked her, "Are you alright?"

That was when she could muster the strength to look away and close her eyes. How could she tell him, it was unbelievable even to her. Richard would think she was crazy coming up with things like that. She felt him sit closer to her and his other hand stroke her cheek. How did he know her weak spots, if she was standing up right now she was sure she would've felt weak in the knees and collapsed.

"I'm sorry if Babs did anything to upset you?"

Her eyes suddenly snapped open. "_Babs_? Oh Richard, Babs has been nothing but kind to me. Why would you think she did that?"

A sudden feeling of guilt swept over him at acting the way he did earlier, but he couldn't help it. When he saw Kori coming home, not being her usual self, taking it out on Babs seemed like the most logical thing – _seemed _like.

"Richard, what did you say to her?" And now he was going to have to explain to Kori about his embarrassing behavior.

"Well…you see, it's like this….you came back and you were all like…._Jeez Grayson get a grip, you're sounding like Gar_…you seemed like something was bothering you because you didn't stick around much, and I assumed Babs had done something to make you upset, so….I said some things…."

"Oh Richard you didn't," Kori gasped a little shocked.

He sighed, defeated. "Yeah, we argued, and now she's gone."

Kori sighed. "This is all my fault, if I had just…well, there's only one thing to do. Apologize."

Now Richard and apologies didn't go too well together, his male pride just seemed to take charge when it came to admitting he was wrong. Maybe he could get out of this somehow…

"Er…Kor, how about you tell her for me?"

Kori gave him a questioning look, "You've never done this before have you?"

His response was rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous laugh, making Kori giggle and forget the real reason she was upset. He seemed to have forgotten too, because now Kori was continuing the tickle fight he started at the café, pinning him down and trying to keep him there showing no mercy. That was until he spun her over and pinned her on the bed doing the same thing she tried to do to him.

The sound of their laughter echoed through the hallways, chasing away any worries that were once there – but that didn't mean to say they wouldn't return, for it seemed the storm of Kori's past had just begun….

* * *

**Okay, now we're getting to the drama. Hope NOW this story has gotten your attention. You know the drill, read and review. I love reviews!**


	4. The Ball, the plan and the kiss

**Prey of the Storm**

**Chapter 4 – The Ball, the plan, and the kiss**

"We're late you know," said an irritated Terra.

"Just chill alright, we'll be there. We'll just say we ran out of gas." Garfield was driving Terra, Rachel and Karen to Wayne Manor. It was Vic who proposed they meet there to enjoy some pizza. They would've gone out somewhere else but it started to drizzle heavily and so they agreed upon going to Richard's.

"You know Richard won't buy your lame excuses," said Rachel.

They were late because Garfield took too long to get ready, then he stopped for a Pepsi on the way, had three bathroom breaks and now they were stuck in traffic.

"Next time I'm getting a cab."

"Rachel, I said we'll be there. It's just a bit of traffic. Ooh, I just gotta check out that new arcade…"

"NO!" was everyone's reply in the car.

"Awww, come on," Garfield whined.

"If we stop now, Vic is gonna kill us by the time we make it to the Manor," said Karen leaning over from the back seat.

"_If_ we even get there," said Rachel, "our driver has the attention span of a donut."

"Hey!...What kind of donut?"

"That's it! I'm getting a cab." Rachel made a grab for the door handle when Garfield desperately tried pulling her back in, as she was sitting in the passenger seat with him up front.

"Rachel! What are you crazy? How do you expect to get there any faster when _everyone_ is stuck in this traffic, and in the rain?"

Rachel was still struggling out of Garfield's grasp. "At least I'll be away from an annoying rat like you! I'd rather listen to a cab driver go on about _his_ boring life."

"You guys, stop. Look we're moving."

They both stopped at Karen's voice to see that the traffic was indeed moving forward, and Rachel reluctantly sat back more comfortably in her seat, grumbling to herself.

* * *

Richard, Kori and Vic were lounging around talking away. Vic had arrived half an hour ago with the pizzas and had expected everybody to be there so they could eat them hot, but apparently most of the group was still missing, so they were having to wait. 

"Aww man where are they?" Vic was pacing around, looking at his watch every now and then.

"Relax Vic, they'll get here. Hey Kori, come inside. It's raining, you'll get sick if you stay out there too long," said Richard.

Kori had momentarily stepped out onto the balcony whilst waiting for the others. There was no denying that she loved the rain, it invigorated her to no end and she could stand out there for as long as it lasted.

"Kori?" Richard had come outside to get her back indoors, but the sight of him made her so happy Kori pulled him out further in the rain with her.

"Kori, what are you doing?"

"Just feel it Richard, isn't it wonderful? Doesn't it excite you, the drops pounding on your skin?"

The next thing he knew she was dancing around all over the balcony to her own imaginary tune, in the rain….getting wet….very wet. He adored how the simplest things seemed to get her adrenaline going…_ "Doesn't it excite you…" _ Her words still echoed in his mind. No doubt he _was _excited at that moment, but it wasn't by the rain. He watched her with keen interest, her clothes had clung to her body making it look like a second skin, and her hair was completely drenched. She tilted her head back, arms wide open, just spinning away enjoying every drop that fell on her. His eyes followed the drops that fell on her face trickling down, down to her throat, to her neck, all the way to her chest and further, until it disappeared into her clothes. How he envied every one of those drops that she allowed so willingly to touch her in such places. To Richard she looked breathtaking. He couldn't just stand there and watch this beauty, that was torture. He was certain more than ever now that he wanted to make his move, so he stepped forward, and as he came closer she spun into him and was startled at the sudden interruption of her little dance.

Eyes fixed onto hers, so intent, so deep, to her they had never looked more beautiful. The rain drizzled down his features, one by one, hanging off his chin before falling off. His usual spiky hair had flopped down, soaked. His hands were positioned at her waist, and she felt his fingers move on her body, spanning out and trying to grab at her skin through her clothes. She felt his breath on her face, no, on her lips, she could tell he was going to make his move. Slowly he removed wet hair that had stuck on her face, bringing his hand to her neck. His other hand grasped tighter at her slim body pulling her in closer, she welcomed his actions but was too hypnotized to encourage them. She saw his face coming in nearer and nearer until they were inches apart, and then…

BANG BANG BANG

"YO! GET IN HERE, IT'S TIME FOR PIZZA!"

The two were startled out of their trance by the sound of Vic's banging on the balcony doors. They both frowned inwardly but went inside with a plastered smile to greet the others. Inside everyone was bustling around, looking in all the different boxes, trying to find their flavor of choice, until they all stopped and looked at the two figures dripping wet, leaving a puddle on the wooden floor.

"What happened to you?" Karen asked.

Kori laughed and said, "Oh, I just love the rain so much, I had to be outside."

They seemed like they were willing to let it go, then turned to Richard. "And what's your excuse?"

"I….like the rain, too?" he said as if seeking approval for his answer.

It was then that Karen ushered them both upstairs telling them to dry off before they catch the chills. They disappeared into their respective rooms to change while the others continued to indulge in their pizza, getting lost in small talk.

"Remind me again why you guys took so long to get here," said Vic.

"Well, you see, it's like this…" Garfield started, only to be interrupted by Rachel.

"We were early but Gar was the one being late, and I'm NOT EVER going anywhere with him if he's behind the wheel."

"What happened?"

"Ask his bladder," Raven muttered.

"Hey, I don't complain when _you_ go for a bathroom break while we're out."

"Well only you and my grandfather seem to go every thirty seconds."

Karen and Terra found it hard _not_ to laugh, although they were there they weren't as stressed out by the whole ordeal as Rachel and Garfield were. After a round of exchanging glares and smirks they all decided it was best to get off that topic and move on.

"So what were those two doing out there in the rain anyway?" asked Terra through a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

"You mean Rich and Kori?" Vic asked. Terra nodded.

"Well Kori went out there first, Richard called her in but she seemed to wanna stay out there, so he must've gone outside to get her, while I was busy waiting for your asses to show up." He took a bite of his pizza. "Come to think of it, that was like ten minutes ago before you guys got here."

A sly smile appeared on Karen's face. "So what do you think they were doing in those ten minutes?" She asked, addressing everyone.

"You think they're together?" Terra asked eagerly.

"Whose together?" Everyone's heads snapped up to see Richard and Kori changed and dried off, standing on the threshold.

"Er…..no one. He did you know the pizza's getting cold?" said Karen.

They both shrugged off the sudden odd behavior and joined everyone else with a slice of pizza in hand.

"Nice save Bee," Vic whispered to Karen. Bee was his little pet name for her.

"Thanks Sparky," she replied with a pet name of her own.

About an hour later the pizza was finished with empty soda cans littered on the table. Kori was sitting with the girls immersed in their own conversation, with the exception of Rachel who got a call and had to take leave for the moment. Richard kept stealing glances at her in the hopes that no one would notice, Kori happened to catch one of them though and gave him a smile that completely melted him. She was only a few feet away talking with Terra and Karen, but he still longed to sit with her just so he could feel her there beside him.

"So Kori, we were thinking of having a slumber party over at my place," said Karen, "why don't you come, it'll be just us girls."

Kori thought about it, pondering over whether she should go or not.

"So, what do you say?" Terra asked.

"Alright," she replied with a smile.

"Alright!" Terra jumped for joy. "So that's you, me, Karen, Rachel, and we still gotta ask Jen."

"Jen?" Kori questioned.

"An old friend of mine, we knew each other since Middle School," Karen answered.

"She used to date Vic," Terra whispered when Karen wasn't looking.

Kori wasn't sure what the whole deal with this love triangle was, so all she did was nod. She had already assumed that Vic and Karen were romantically involved, but still wasn't a hundred percent sure, after all Richard hadn't said anything about them being a couple.

"So you guys coming tonight?" Richard was asking Garfield and Victor about the ball.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world Rich, but I'm gonna need a tux."

"You don't necessarily need a tux Gar, don't you have like a business suit lying around?"

"I don't exactly have a stack of suits lined up in my closet, unlike you of course," he joked.

"What about that outfit you wore at Wally's party?" Vic cut in.

Garfield though for a moment, "Yeah that could work. Aww man, that shirt still has the stain from when that girl spilled her drink over me."

"That party was a month ago Gar…and you mean to say you haven't washed it yet?"

Both Vic and Richard made faces of disgust at each other while shaking their heads in disapproval.

"Well…I've been busy."

"With what, you're video games?"

"That's it Vic, you aint borrowing any of them, coz I know you can't resist trying to beat my ass."

"Who said I needed to try?"

At that moment Garfield lunged for Vic rolling him over on the floor while they battled it out in their macho one on one fights. It wasn't like a grudge fight or anything, this was just them in their competitive, playful mood. Everyone turned their attention to watch with amused expressions.

Rachel came back and saw the scene, rolling her eyes at the two buffoons. She sat down somewhat more frustrated than usual.

"You okay girl?"

"Just fine, Karen."

"Who was on the phone?" Terra asked.

"Xavier."

"No way, what did he want?"

Rachel just waved her hand at them as if to dismiss the subject altogether, "Who cares, alright? Let's just forget it."

If there was one thing they knew it was not to get an already pissed Rachel even more pissed, (not unless you had a death wish). It was obvious that this was all they were going to get out of her, so they dropped it for the time being.

A few hours of laughing and joking around later, with the occasional glare from Rachel to Garfield still sore over the car ride episode, everyone decided it was time they headed off and save their energy for the ball tonight. Bruce himself had invited them all, since Richard couldn't, being the last to know. They left with their goodbyes and promises of seeing each other this evening, making a scurrying exit as it was still pouring with rain.

"I can't wait to see them again," said Kori. Richard only smiled at her. "Do Rachel and Garfield always fight like that?"

"Yep, always."

"That is sweet," she said it quietly, more to herself than to Richard, but he heard her.

"What are you talking about? They can't seem to stand each other."

"But if you observe closely, they almost fight like they're in love. It's not hard to tell they like each other."

Rachel and Garfield's relationship as friends was confusing enough for Richard to ponder over, so to think about them even more than that was like…bizarre.

He laughed light heartedly and said, "Whatever Kori," then draped his arm over her shoulder walking off down the hall with her.

* * *

The Manor was busy with preparations for the ball that was going to be held that evening, and Kori had offered to help with getting everything ready. Alfred, not being used to this kind of assistance had objected at first, but he found it hard to turn her down. He never could say no that face, sometimes when he looked at her he still saw a nine year old little girl, happy and carefree little Kori. But then when Bruce noticed her assisting with the chores around the Manor he immediately stopped her, softly scolding that this event was for her and that the guest of honor shouldn't be involved in such tasks, and sent her upstairs to her room, telling her there was a surprise waiting for her there. 

And now here she was, in her bedroom looking around to try and find it. Bruce didn't give any clue as to what or where it might be, she was to discover that for herself. Slightly frustrated she plopped down onto her bed and blew a tired sigh. She could always go and ask him where it was, but the tiredness of helping around the Manor caught up with her, and so decided to ask later.

"_I may as well pick out what I'm going to wear for tonight."_

When she was first told about the event she couldn't grasp the concept that she was going to have a ball held in her honor. She told Bruce there was no need whatsoever to go to such extremities for her, but his gesture seemed so sincere that she felt ecstatic and jumped onto Bruce giving him a hug in gratitude. Bruce did hug back, but she swore she heard him say something in her hair, it had sounded like…Lou-Anne. Why would he say her mother's name? Kori had shrugged it off and decided that it was probably nothing.

She dragged herself to her closet and opened the left side first, looking through the dresses Richard had gotten her, scanning each one deciding which she should go with, and then she opened the right side of the closet only to have her eyes pop out. For there, on the inside of the door, was a dress she had never seen before. It was white and looked so elegant, and as she stared closer she could see small diamonds sewn into it. There was a small tag at the top, she flipped it over and it read:

'_To Kori. This is for tonight. Hope you like it.'_

Could this be the surprise Bruce was talking about? Either way it was a gorgeous dress, and she was definitely going to wear it tonight – (after all, the note told her so). She only hoped Richard would like it, she felt a huge urge to impress him especially after their second near kiss. He seemed to try so hard for her, sometimes she wished he would just grab her in his arms and sweep her off her feet in a passionate kiss. But it seems she would have to wait yet again for the right moment…or she could speed things up a bit, and tonight would be the perfect opportunity. Yes, Kori Anders was soon beginning to devise a plan of how to rope her wonder boy into her arms again and make him stay there, with NO interruptions.

* * *

"Ugh, what is it?!" Rachel whipped the phone to her ear not really wanting to answer yet another call from _him_. 

"_Now, now, is that any way to talk to an old friend?"_ The voice on the other end said.

"You only want to be friends when it's convenient for you. Now what do you want? I'm busy."

"_I see that temper of yours hasn't left you yet. Still the same bitchy self, are we?"_

She hung up. It was all she could take from that jerk, who went by the name of Xavier. Today he just didn't seem to want to leave her alone. She knew that if she didn't have someone to talk to soon to keep her mind occupied she would go crazy.

* * *

"Yes Kori, I think those shoes would go perfect with that color?" Rachel responded. 

Okay, so she decided she would go to the Manor a little early and get ready there. It wouldn't have been her normal choice but it would've saved her the cab fare instead of going somewhere else to keep her mind busy _then_ to the Manor, (and she wasn't about to trust Garfield to be her driver, despite his insistent persuading). So it was just her and Kori in her bedroom.

"So, Richard's gone…but you don't know where."

"He didn't tell me. He just said it was important but that he'll be back before the party started," Kori replied trying to zip herself up but struggling.

"Come here, I'll do that for you." She let Rachel close up her dress, then turned around so Rachel could see how it fit. Now Rachel's reactions never really showed much, it was just the way she was and Kori had already realized that, so she was still touched by the next thing she said, even if it did sound unenthusiastic, "That dress looks nice on you."

"Thank you. It was a gift from Bruce."

"Bruce?" Her eyes widened.

"Yes. Why does that surprise you?"

"It's...just I didn't know Bruce would be…I don't know...romantic, I guess?"

"Romantic?" Kori chuckled.

"Well it does seem out of _his_ character. I know he's taken women out on dates before but he never got them presents, not like this. This is the first time I've seen him get anyone anything."

"Maybe he feels a need to look after me," thought Kori.

"Why? Richard's not doing his job?"

Kori giggled at that while Rachel merely smirked.

"So, who is Xavier?" Kori asked innocently after a while of silence.

Rachel definitely wasn't expecting that. "He's nobody."

"You seemed quite upset when he called you earlier."

She gave a frustrated sigh. "Alright, alright, I guess you're probably gonna find out sooner or later. We used to go out okay, but things just didn't work out for us, I'm not gonna go into details, but all I can tell you is that he's a big jerk. He says we're friends but he only calls me when he wants something. I, on the other hand don't want anything to do with him."

"So what did he want?" Kori asked touching up her make up.

"Apparently to get the 411 on you."

"M-me?" she said turning around. "But I don't even know him." Kori said, surprised.

"He's planning on changing that. He's already seen you with Richard, so I'm guessing his competitive streak will be showing up."

Kori was silent, what could she say to that? She didn't even know who this guy was, and he wanted to get to know her? She knew though that there would never be anyone like Richard, which brought her attention to her little scheme that she still needed to think up.

"Rachel, I wonder if you could help me with something."

"As long as it doesn't involve humiliating myself."

"Oh no, no, nothing like that. It's about Richard."

"You shouldn't have any problems trying to get his attention with that dress, especially if it's Bruce's taste."

"Well it's not really the attention I'm worried about…."

"It's trying to get some alone time with him without being interrupted?"

"It's like you read my mind," said Kori.

Rachel formed a maniacal look and starting rubbing her palms together, "Alright, get ready for Operation: Bag Boy Wonder. Now here's what you do…"

* * *

"What time is it?" Richard had just burst in through the front door, in a disheveled state. 

Bruce's gaze followed him rushing around frantically, it was a rare sight to see Richard get all excited over one of Bruce's parties, usually he would be moping around wishing he was somewhere else. The guests were due to arrive in half an hour and Richard still needed to get ready, but he was hoping to get a chance to see Kori quickly before the party started.

"You know, if you remembered to wear your watch you might be here earlier."

"Don't start with me now, okay? You wouldn't believe the crowds of people I had to fight at the mall, which reminds me..." That was the last thing he said before dashing up the stairs to the bathroom.

"Ouch", he muttered to himself as he looked in the mirror at the bruises on his bare chest. _"Those creeps sure pack a punch. Couldn't these criminals take a day off or something? Tonight of all nights, honestly."_

The mall apparently wasn't the only place he'd been to, he'd been alerted to a disturbance in the streets, which cost him most of his time. He thought about what Babs had said, he could try and keep Kori from finding out about his alternate life, but that wouldn't be right. She was his best friend, she deserved to know the truth, about what he did, why he did it. He took up this secret hobby not long after Kori had left Gotham all those years ago. He wanted so much to tell her but he had to think of the consequences too. _"No, she's been through enough already, and she's finally safe. I can't jeopardize her safety...but **not** telling her is like saying I don't trust her."_ His inner battle continued until he remembered the time and got ready.

* * *

Richard took a deep breath. 

"I can do this, I can do this," he kept saying to himself.

He knocked. The door opened a crack and he was met with a face he wasn't expecting to see. "Rachel, er...what a surprise."

"So you decided to come back after all, I thought you were gonna be a no-show, I happen to know you're not too fond of these things."

He of course ignored her. "Yeah…is Kori there?"

"She's still getting ready, why?"

"I wanted to give her this, I was kinda hoping she would wear it." He held out a black box in his hand, Rachel took it and looked inside, then closed it again.

"I'll make sure she gets it."

"But..."

"If you wanted to see her sooner then you should've been back earlier , you'll get to see her. Now do you mind, I'm still fixing her hair." She said pushing him away and closing the door.

* * *

Bruce and Richard stood by the door greeting the first batch of guests that had arrived. Richard played nice and pretended that he was actually happy to see them. It was the same old thing for him, seeing those big shot fat cats in their expensive suits tailored for perfection, with the usual classy women on their arm. Who's to say they weren't their supposed wives. Bruce remained dignified as ever and managed to pull off a good act, but then again he's been doing this for years, it all comes naturally to him. Richard was only interested in seeing one person that night, as he constantly glanced up the stairs anxiously waiting. 

"You could've at least put on a tie," said Bruce through his smile.

"I don't have to be that formal, do I?"

"It would've made a nice touch, that's all."

A figure caught Richard's attention from the corner of his eye descending slowly from the stairs. It was only Rachel.

"You look lovely Rachel."

"Thanks Bruce, I'll just go on ahead and mingle. Kori's ready, she should be coming down any moment." As she passed by she discretely whispered something in Richard's ear, "And try not to drool too much when you see her."

Richard was going to respond to her remark but she was gone, and not a moment later his eyes met with the most breathtaking vision ever. There she was, gliding down the staircase more beautiful than he'd ever seen. Her white dress shaped her body in such a way that she was to die for; it had a scoop neck front with a spaghetti strap lace-up back. The sewn in diamonds on her dress glistened like moonlight on water droplets, the back of her dress flowed after her down the stairs like the spilling of milk, or clouds of thick white smoke being blown in a certain direction. Her hair was done up in an elegant bun, with two tendrils loose framing her face. She looked like an angel.

Bruce was the first to compliment her as soon as she came down, "My, my Kori, you're going to steal the spotlight tonight, aren't you," he said as he took both her hands and kissed her on the cheek.

Kori giggled. "I believe credit for that goes to you, it was so nice of you to get me this beautiful outfit. I wish to thank you for that."

"The pleasure is all mine. After all, it's only a five thousand dollar dress," he smiled at the way Kori gasped, then turned to Richard and said, "Dick, your lady awaits. Why not escort her to the ballroom."

Richard, who had been struck speechless the moment he saw her, didn't move a muscle. Kori stood before him and tried calling his name, he seemed to be phasing out a lot around her lately.

"Richard? Are you alright?"

"Huh? I...I...I...I..." He was broken out of his spell by Kori's laughter, (either it was that or because he just remembered he needed to breathe).

"Thank you for the necklace you gave me," she said, placing a hand on the heart shaped diamond pendant he had passed onto Rachel to give to Kori moments ago, "Is that why you had to go out so urgently?"

"Yeah, sorry it took so long. I can't believe even on a Thursday the mall is packed," he said, hoping that excuse was more convincing than it sounded. "So, shall we?" he said offering his arm to her which she gladly took smiling brightly.

They slowly walked the hallway until they reached a huge entrance into which they stepped in. It was the most wondrous thing Kori had ever seen inside that ballroom; Bruce seemed to have gone out of his way to make it look spectacular. As soon as they stepped in it was like all gazes were on them, or on Kori rather since they were all familiar with Richard. Even though they may or may not have known her but her sudden appearance caused quite a stir in the atmosphere. Bruce came up behind them placing a hand each on Kori and Richard's shoulder, and then addressed the audience.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to present you with the guest of honor, Kori Anders."

Kori was sure her blush was showing, everyone was just staring at her, and it was even worse when she didn't know why. She felt Bruce give a little nudge to step further into the room. If she didn't have Richard with her she wasn't sure what she would do.

"You okay, you feel stiff," Richard whispered.

"Everyone's looking at me," she whispered back.

"They do that, it's because this party is for you. Come on look, there's Gar and Rachel, why don't we say hi."

He led her towards them, holding her arm tightly against him to comfort her, and to let her know he was right beside her. Rachel and Gar, who were arguing yet again, turned their attention to the couple coming their way as soon as they noticed them.

"So you made it, huh Gar?"

"Yep, and I finally found something _formal_ to wear," he said fingering the lining of his blazer, Richard just rolled his eyes at him.

"Well Kori," Rachel said, "you can sure turn heads."

"Yeah, as soon as she walked in the room was like, silent you know," said Gar.

Kori laughed nervously, she wasn't used to being the center of attention like this, especially when she felt like she did nothing to deserve it. Just then Karen came up behind her followed by Terra and Vic.

"Karen, you look amazing," Kori exclaimed.

"Amazing is what you are girl, that dress looks hot." Then elbowing Richard she asked slyly, "What do you think Richard? Doesn't she look amazing?" She liked to see him lose his usual calm and collected composure only to get nervous as hell.

"Y-yeah...she looks nice," he quietly replied and cleared his throat.

"Hey Kori", said Terra pulling her away, "remember when we told you about Jen, well this is her."

Terra took her to a girl who was shorter than Kori, she had chestnut brown hair which fell down a little past her shoulders. Jen turned around and caught sight of Terra, they hugged then separated turning their attention to Kori.

"Jen, this is the girl I was telling you about, this is…"

"Kori, yeah I know. Bruce already told us when you made your entrance. Well it's nice to meet you Kori, I'm Jen."

"And I'm Wally."

Jen had jabbed the red haired boy in the ribs as he shot out between her and Terra. "Yeah, and that's Wally," said Jen rolling her eyes.

"Jeez Jen, what is up with you?" said Wally rubbing his ribs. "So anyway, a friend of Richard's huh? That's cool. How long have you been here?"

"Not very long, I came to Gotham a few days ago."

"So Jen," Terra asked, "about that sleepover we were talking about…"

* * *

"So Bruce where is this lovely young lady who you've held this ball for?" 

"She's right over there Mr. Mayor, you can't miss her," said Bruce pointing to a red head crowded by a group of people while on the arm of Richard.

The stubby bald man tried to figure out who she might be from the crowd, then he saw the crowd surrounding her leave until she was alone. Richard had whispered something into her ear and had also left.

"Ah yes, that must be her. The red headed beauty, am I right?"

Bruce nodded.

"I must say she is a rare find. What did you say her name was?"

"Kori."

It was then that the Commissioner had approached the two men, their interest captured in the most mesmerizing way. He stepped up beside Bruce out of sight from the Mayor, calmly following their gaze. It wasn't long before the Mayor was called away and gave his leave from Bruce, going off to mingle, which left Bruce and the Commissioner by themselves, eyes hardly straying from the same red head they had been staring at.

"Great party Bruce."

"Hmm."

"She shares a strong resemblance to her mother, doesn't she?"

"It's hard not to notice that."

"I know you still think about her." The Commissioner took this moment to check his reaction. It was a topic they hadn't talked about in a long time, yet they were so familiar with it as if it all happened recently.

Bruce didn't reply, he continued to sip his drink.

"She's not Lou-Anne, you know."

"Now what's that supposed to mean?" he replied as calm as ever.

"You can't pretend that she's her. The girl dancing with Richard, it's Kori, not Lou-Anne." The Commissioner lowered his gaze. "Bruce, I know what you felt for her, and I can understand how hard it is losing someone who meant that much to you….it was how I felt when I lost Babs' mother."

Bruce closed his eyes and sighed. "I know Jim, and believe me I do understand. It's just seeing Kori…is like seeing her ghost come back. I remember how she used to love to dance here. She was enchanting."

Bruce could see an image of a flashback of Lou-Anne and himself in a romantic dance together, his hand on her waist while the other held her soft palm, her other hand being on his shoulder, and her just looking into his eyes as they glided across the ballroom. Her eyes sparkled as they reflected off the moon.

"Richard's a lucky man to have found Kori."

It was true, Bruce had never seen two people more right for each other, he saw the way she lit up Richard's world, like all his troubles had disappeared. His childhood seemed lost to him at the death of his parents, but when they met she had given it back, she opened his eyes to it and he never felt more alive. Then when her father took her away and left, his demons returned. There was no one to fight his fears, no one who could take away the pain. He knew he had to find her, those sleepless nights he spent searching, he would cry out her name hoping she would hear him. The dreams he had of her calling _his_ name in agony, in pain. Sometimes he would jump out of bed looking for her around the Manor, until Alfred would come and calm him down. His will to find her never weakened so giving up was unknown to him.

Richard _was _lucky to find Kori, that was common knowledge, but there was one thing in Bruce's statement that was like a revelation, it was the first time he called Richard a man.

* * *

He had convinced her to dance with him, she was somewhat nervous, but his blue eyes persuaded her to take his hand and to be led to the middle of the floor. The music played and she felt his hand wrap around her body, while he took her hand and brought her closer to him. There was something about the way he held her while they danced that gave her a certain feeling, as if it conveyed his emotions to her, his body was trying to communicate with hers in ways she hadn't anticipated. Though she had danced with Vic earlier she hadn't felt anything like she did now. 

"Have I told you that you look beautiful?"

"You don't have to," she smiled.

"Well I'm still going to. Kori, you look beautiful."

"Thank you, Richard."

He twirled her around in swift circles while she let her head fall back enjoying every moment, exposing her delicious neck to him. She liked letting him be in control, she noticed how it came naturally to him. It made her wonder what other situations he liked to have control in. Well if Operation: Bag Boy Wonder was a success, maybe she could find out, when they were really, really alone.

"So, Bruce got you that dress, did he?"

"Yes. Why, are you jealous," she asked slyly.

"Jealous? Me? What made you think that?"

Kori only giggled causing Richard to give her an odd stare. "What?"

"Nothing, nothing at all," she said shaking her head, "Though would it bother you if I told you that Bruce was staring at us right now?"

Richard turned towards that direction and spotted Bruce staring intently with the Commissioner by his side. They were both staring. He ached to know what they were talking about, he could read body language well enough to know when something was amiss, and at that particular moment Bruce had appeared to be a little uneasy talking with the Commissioner. He hardly ever saw Bruce like that.

"Richard?"

He turned his attention back to Kori and gave a warm smile, and they continued to dance like nothing happened. After their dance had ended Kori had spotted someone she was hoping to see.

"Richard look, there's Babs."

"That's nice." He was so busy staring at Kori, he hardly heard what she said.

"Come on let's go." She began pulling towards Babs. "She's right there so you can apologize to her."

"Now?" he whined.

"The sooner the better. Please? For me?" She gave him the puppy dog pout, her secret weapon, and boy he could never resist that look.

"Alright," he said through gritted teeth.

_"Works every time."_ She thought to herself.

She led them heading towards Babs, dragging a grumpy Richard behind her.

"Babs, you're here."

Babs spun her head to Kori giving her a huge hug. "Kori! I was wondering when I'd get a chance to meet you. I thought I'd have to take a number or something."

Kori laughed then got straight to the point. "Anyway Babs, there's someone here who needs to talk to you." She pulled a nervous Richard out from behind her. Both him and Babs exchanged silent glances, not really sure what to say. "Well I guess I'll leave you two alone," said Kori, walking away and leaving the two to settle their differences.

"So."

"So."

"So when you'd get here?" He asked her.

"Just a little while ago." She replied plainly.

"Oh."

It was hard to take the awkward silence much longer, so Richard decided he would just come out and say it...

"Look Babs..."

"Look Richard..."

...only they both spoke at the same time.

"You first Babs."

"No, go ahead Rich."

"Well, I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for yelling at you the other day. It was way out of line...and I'm sorry."

"That's okay, I shouldn't have lost my temper either. Friends?"

"Friends." They both hugged and felt relieved that they didn't have to sulk with each other forever.

Kori watched the whole thing and smiled when she saw them hug. Knowing apologies weren't one of Richard's strong points she had to admit he did a pretty good job, and now they were chatting away as if nothing happened. Suddenly an arm had placed itself around Kori's waist and she gasped. She felt someone's breathe start to tickle her ear as it spoke.

"Hey there, cutie."

She turned around to be met with a guy who looked around Richard's age with dark spiky hair. Actually he looked a lot like Richard except his eyes were an exotic gray color.

"H-h-hi," she stuttered.

"You must be Kori if I'm not mistaken."

"And you are?" she asked sliding out of his grip, but he pulled her back in with more force, nearing his face dangerously to hers, and then spoke so that only she could hear him.

"The name's Xavier, but you can call me X."

So this was the famous Xavier. Well he had looks, she'd give him that, but at the way he handled her well, she was beginning to feel intimidated and tried pushing him away. He noticed and only tightened his grip on her, wrapping the other arm around her shoulders.

"A beauty like you shouldn't be standing here all alone, after all, this is your party isn't it?"

"I'm not alone", Kori defended. "I have friends, they're just…busy."

"Then let's go somewhere where we can get…busy," he said, rubbing his nose against the side of her face.

"No, I…I can't."

"Come on, I won't bite…hard."

"I have to go." She attempted to wriggle free from him but he jerked her back. "Let me go, please. Richard might be looking for me."

"Then he shouldn't have let you out of his sight, should he?"

"A mistake I don't plan on making again." It was Richard. Kori felt relieved. "Is there a problem here, X?" She saw the look in his eye and noticed Richard eyeing him with venom, clearly Rachel wasn't the only one to hate him. Speaking of Rachel, it looked as though she and the cavalry had arrived. There, backing up Richard was Garfield, Terra, Karen, Vic, Rachel and even Jen and Wally.

Richard took Kori by the arm and pulled her towards him, holding her firmly against him by her waist.

"Don't let me catch you harassing her again, or there'll be hell to pay."

"Jeez, chill Grayson, have a little fun once in a while." He turned to walk the other way, but just before he did he gave a little wink at Kori and said, "Another time cutie," and then he was gone before Richard had a chance to react.

Everyone felt it safe to relax, not because of X though, but because of Richard. Sure he was their friend and they could always joke around with him but making him mad was something they didn't dare encourage. Richard gave Kori a once over making sure he hadn't hurt her.

"Are you alright?" he asked her.

"I am now," she said and embraced him in a hug. He hugged her back just glad that he got to her in time before anything happened.

Rachel had approached Kori with the same look she had after she talked to X on the phone earlier at the Manor. "I should've known that jerk would be here."

Kori was confused. "Why would Bruce invite someone like him?"

"It's not him, it's his father. He owns another huge company of his own, him and Bruce just happen to be friends."

"Oh," she said.

"Hey," Rachel whispered in her ear, "Do you still want to go ahead with...you know."

Kori knew exactly what she was talking about and nodded with a smirk. They waited for Richard to turn his head around in their direction and that's when Kori said,

"Oh Rachel, do you still have that lip gloss I gave to you?"

"You don't wear lip glo...," Garfield would've finished his sentence if Rachel hadn't stomped on his foot to try and shut him up.

"Hold on, lemme check." Rachel began rummaging through her purse not really intending to find anything.

"I can't seem to find it, I think I left it on the bench when I went out for a walk in the garden."

"Oh well...um, Richard?" Kori looked to him starry eyed, "Do you think you could come and help me look for it. Please?"

"Sure thing Kor."

As they were leaving Rachel quickly managed to whisper in Kori's ear, "I left it on the bench by the rose bush, you know which one right?"

Kori nodded, then left with Richard.

* * *

"Any sign of it?" Richard called out. 

Kori had dashed ahead in hopes of finding the rose bush that Rachel mentioned, next to which she expected to see the bench. She didn't want to waste any more time than necessary on 'finding' her lip gloss.

"I found it." Kori exclaimed.

Richard finally caught up with her, jogging in her direction, but stopped midway when he caught sight of her standing by the bench looking so radiant under the light of the moon. He wanted to picture this scene and burn it into his memory forever. Coming up behind her he gently placed his chin on her shoulder so as not to startle her. She smiled and breathed in his scent, how she loved the way he smelled. She let him wrap his strong yet gentle arms around her curvy waist, turning her around to face him before pulling her into him.

"I've had enough of sharing you, Kori. I want you all to myself now."

"Well, you have me."

He reached over and plucked a rose from the rose bush. Kori couldn't help wonder if this was one of the reasons why Rachel had picked such a place to leave her lip gloss. He took the rose and gently positioned it perfectly into her hair, then kissed her forehead but still held her face in his hands. For a long moment he stared at her. It was her eyes, they always seemed to cast some kind of spell on him. He had always loved those eyes, even when they were younger he could never get over how nice they were. Stroking her face with his thumb Kori became lost in his touch, she gave him a loving look, one that said: I can't imagine spending my life with anyone else but you.

Soon the space between them was closing in and she could feel his breath on her lips, just like on the balcony. They inched closer, more and more, and then...they kissed, and they were in heaven. It started out sweet and gentle, but they had both waited so long for this to happen they couldn't stop. They wouldn't, it was heartbreaking to end it now, so they carried on, and their kiss took on a new turn, becoming more and more passionate with each second that passed by. They held on to each other tighter, rubbing each other's bodies causing an uncontrollable friction between them. He backed her towards the bench and sat her down first, before sitting with her then leaning over her making her lie down. His tongue begged her mouth for entrance and she complied, letting it roam all around in her mouth, and dancing with her tongue, eliciting cute little whimpers from her throat. She let his mouth wander over her neck, succumbing to his torments of pleasure as he nipped and teased at her tasty skin. Her hands ran through his hair, pushing his head more into her, encouraging his actions. After their heavy moment of passion they stopped, whether it was reason that was screaming out at them, or their minds that finally took back control over their actions, they weren't sure to say the least as to why they had, but they both knew one thing.

"Kori, there's something I wanna say to you."

She signaled him to continue.

"Kori," he took her hands and kissed them softly, "I love you."

"Truly?" He nodded with a smile, "Because...I've wanted to tell you this for quite a while. I love you too, Richard."

He took her into his arms and kissed her lovingly, he would've kissed her until the sun would dawn on him, but the need for air dawned on him instead. It turned out to be one perfect night for the two lovers, they finally confessed what was already there, and they were happy. Their lives were complete. It seemed as if nothing could ruin it for them, but then again, fate likes to play its own games...

* * *

**OK, there it is. This turned out better than Chapter 3, that was a rush job. So yeah, I finally got them together. I know you might be thinking that Bruce has a thing for Kori, but it's not like that. Don't worry, I'll make it more clear as the story progresses.**

**Enjoy!**


	5. Locked in Darkness

**Hello everyone. Did I keep you waiting long enough? Well I've been a tad busy but here's your next chapter. Firstly I just want to give a big, BIG shout out and thank you to First Angel. She helped me with this chapter a lot and I couldn't have done it without her. The title for this chapter was her idea, so this chapter is dedicated to First Angel.**

**So have a read and tell me how you think it's going so far. Peace.**

* * *

**Chapter 5 – Locked in Darkness**

_Dear Diary,_

_This is my third entry, even though Richard gave me this journal only yesterday, I am so eager to write all my thoughts in it. Well, it has been 1 week to the day Richard and I got together. EEP! I don't know if he cares about such trivial things or even remembers, either way I am just happy to be with him. I can finally tell him I love him, yes love. I LOVE RICHARD GRAYSON! Just being with him I feel safe, he's always had that effect on me. Tonight he's taking me out to an Italian restaurant, he says the food is so delicious there he's sure I'll love it. I haven't worn one dress from that closet; you know from the ones Richard got for me. I feel terrible. I don't think Richard was expecting to see me dressed for that ball in something that Bruce bought me, though that outfit was **dazzling**...and it got Richard to kiss me. Funny enough he asked me not to mention our dinner plans to anyone, though why I'll never know. _

_So what else, oh yes, the sleepover at Karen's. That's tomorrow night, I'm going out with her later today to get our sleepover supplies. Terra said she'll bring the drinks, Jen's bringing popcorn, and Rachel mentioned something about movies. Me and Karen are picking up the rest of the stuff. I can't wait, I am so excited! This is my first sleepover, EVER. Richard says he already misses me, I don't think he's looking forward to spending a night without me, he was sulking after breakfast this morning. I don't think bringing up the sleepover that time was a good idea... Oops, gotta go, someone's at the door. I'll tell you how everything went._

_Kori._

"Just a minute! I'm coming!" Kori shouted.

She opened the door to a smiling Richard leaning against her door frame, arms crossed. "Can I help you?" She asked playfully.

He didn't answer, he just stood there, his expression never changing. Kori furrowed her eyebrows at him, she had to admit she was a little nervous not knowing what he was thinking. "Erm...Richard?"

Was he going to just stand there, why doesn't he say something? Little did she know that he wasn't going to, because he suddenly leapt onto her and tackled her to the bed, pinning her underneath him.

"I just thought I'd come and say hello."

Kori giggled playing with his hair. "Oh, so that's what you were doing. Well, I'll give you points for originality."

"Well it _has_ been a while since I saw you."

"It's only been two hours, Richard."

"Two hours", he sighed, "And to think tomorrow you're going to be away for one whole night."

Kori cupped his cheek lovingly, it was so adorable how he always wanted her around, how addicted he'd become to her. "Sweetie, you've lived without me for eight years, surely one night isn't all that bad."

"Yeah, but now it's gonna be the first night without my girlfriend," he said stroking her bangs.

"Would you like me to call you from there?"

"Maybe I could sneak in through a window instead," he said slyly, giving her a tender kiss.

"And get caught?"

"I don't get caught," and he kissed her again, probably to stop her having the last word. His hands roamed her body and hers automatically did the same, gliding over his shoulders down to his chest until she heard him wince in pain.

"What is it? Are you alright?" she asked in concern.

He leaned off of her and sat down, moving stiffly to a more comfortable position. "I'm okay, remember I mentioned the rush I encountered at the mall?"

She seemed convinced, somewhat. "The mall...yes, you did mention that," she replied slowly. "But maybe you should let me see where it hurts and I could-"

"NO!" His response came out louder than it was supposed to, and he mentally kicked himself for the way he sounded. "I mean, that's okay. It's fine now. Let's just lie here together for a while."

"Alright." Kori couldn't help still feeling concerned for him, but decided not to push at the matter any further.

* * *

Kori knew she had it somewhere, but where? It wasn't in her room, she checked twice, and the last place she remembered having it was when she was watching TV with Richard on the couch.

_"Sometimes it helps when you retrace your steps,"_ she remembered him saying once.

Kori thought for a moment. That could work. She immediately headed for the couch they sat on where they watched TV and resumed her frantic hunt.

"Whacha doing?" Richard came in eating an apple and noticed Kori completely engrossed in her task.

Kori continued to search without looking up. "That thing, I can't find it."

"What thing?"

"You know…." She was too distracted to pay much attention, all she knew was that she had to find it before Karen arrived to pick her up.

Richard kept his watch on her, she had her low rise jeans on with an off the shoulder red top showing of her tan skin in the most desirable way. Was she _trying _to torture him? Shouldn't she know by now how irresistible she can look, and her crouching down didn't help matters much either.

Kori felt around in the couch, it could have dropped in between the cushions. Time was running out and Karen would be here soon. Just then, a pair of hands placed themselves firmly on her waist, making her look over her shoulder into the eyes of Richard. He had that look again. Yes, she could decipher those looks by now, he usually made those pretty clear to her. But she didn't have time for this; then again she could never deny him anything, so she gave in to his gestures. She let her head tilt back on his shoulder while he gave butterfly kisses to hers.

"If you calm down I'm sure you'll find it Kori. Karen won't mind being a little he- OW."

"What is it? Are you alright?"

"Yeah," he said rubbing the spot where it hurt, "I felt something prick." He felt around here and there and pulled out a tiny red hair pin.

Kori gasped. "Richard! You've found it! Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you," she said, jumping onto him making him fall back. Richard chuckled, enjoying the kisses she showered on him. "It's okay, it's okay."

"I guess I came at a bad time." Both heads shot up with stunned faces to see Karen standing in the doorway. She smirked at the scene of Richard on the floor with Kori on top of him, arms around his neck.

"Erm…hehe…shall we go then?" Kori asked getting up and stepping away from Richard as if nothing happened.

"Sure, that's if you're done here, of course." Karen said with a knowing smile. "Coz I always could circle the block or something."

The blushing couple ignored the huge smirk Karen had, of course they assumed it was because of her catching them in the moment, but unknowing to them there was more to it than Karen let on.

Richard walked them to the door, giving Kori a final peck on the cheek before they left. It was nice to see her enjoying her life, he knew she would soon come to love shopping, what with the influence of Gotham he'd exposed her to. He'd arranged a while ago for her to have her own credit card so she could feel free to shop whenever she wanted. Though Kori was grateful for the privilege she made sure to be extra careful when using it, it _was _Richard's money after all and she didn't want him thinking she was some kind of gold-digger. The day she went out with Babs, Richard had let her borrow his card, but was surprised at seeing only a few bags in her hand when she came back. She told him that it didn't feel right spending so much with something that wasn't hers when he asked her about it, though the last thing he wanted was for her to feel deprived.

"Kori, what's mine is yours. Don't ever forget that." He had told her

* * *

Choices, choices, so many choices. Karen and Kori couldn't decide on anything, one minute they picked one thing, only to put it back and keep on browsing. It was never ending. 

"We better decide soon Kor, or else we'll be here till Christmas."

"I agree," said Kori as she trudged on after Karen. At that moment Karen's cell rang, she checked the ID and answered.

"Hey Terra."

_"Hey. So what's going on?"_

"Me and Kori are just getting the stuff for tomorrow night."

_"And how's that going?"_

"Don't ask. I'm sick of making choices, like I don't have enough to make in my life right now."

"_Like what exactly?"_

"Vic's birthday for one, it's next month, and I gotta start shopping for that soon. I have **no **idea what to get, he already has everything he wants for his car. What else is there?"

"_You could always try something original, something he can't get from a car, if you know what I mean."_

"Terra!"

"_What? It couldn't hurt, right."_

Kori tuned out of the conversation to continue wandering through the aisles, she had no idea just getting ready to spend the night at someone's place would be such hard work. Did it really matter what kind of bath scents they had? Yes, that was what they were looking for, bath scents. Karen came across as very picky when choosing how she wanted her house to smell like. Kori rounded a corner and didn't notice the girl who happened to come out at the same time until they both collided with each other.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry," said Kori picking herself up.

"Well you should be," came her obnoxious reply, "Why don't you watch where you're going?"

"Hey, she said she was sorry, why don't you just back off?" Karen had to cut her phone conversation short and rushed straight to Kori. If it was anyone else she had bumped into she wouldn't have worried so much, but this wasn't just anyone else.

"And why don't you just get lost, Beecher."

Karen took Kori by her shoulders and turned to lead her away. "Come on Kori, we don't need to waste time talking with her."

"Kori?" The girl questioned as if suddenly realizing who she was. "As in the one who everyone can't seem to shut up about, especially after that party that was held for her last week?"

"Yeah." Karen said slowly.

"Well?" The girl said looking to Karen expectantly.

"Well what?" Karen snapped.

"Don't tell me you left your manners at the whore house. Introduce us!"

Karen closed her eyes and sighed, "Alright. Kori, bitch. Bitch, Kori."

"Not funny Beecher! Actually…" the girl said turning to Kori and glaring at Karen, "…the name's Kitten, and you, Kori, I've already heard so much about."

Kori wasn't sure what to make of this strange blonde haired girl, who seemed to act like she owned everything. She hesitantly returned the greeting. "It's…nice to meet you."

"Yeah whatever, just remember one thing Princess, you may live with Richard, but he's mine."

"Oh cut the crap Kitten, you don't own him. If you couldn't nab him before what makes you think you could now? Besides, he's with Kori."

Now the glare that Karen got was directed at Kori, except with more venom. She couldn't imagine seeing him with anyone else but her, it was supposed to be just Richard and Kitten, but this little red head had to come and not only take everyone's attention by storm, but Richard's as well, HER Richard. How could she steal him away like that?

"He won't be yours for long, only I can make him happy. Soon he'll realize that only one person is good enough for him."

"Yeah, it would be a shrink after dating you."

Kori let out a small giggle, trying to keep most of it in, but that didn't go too well with Kitten.

"Just you wait, you'll be sorry, you both will," she said, turning to walk out of the store.

Kori and Karen waited till she was out of earshot until they burst into fits of laughter. The others were gonna love this, they hated Kitten as much as anyone else did. She would boast about anything and everything, and it got rather tiresome too, even her own circle of friends grew annoyed of hearing her go on and on all the time, though they still hung out with her for obvious reasons.

* * *

What to do at 5pm. For Kori it was relaxing on her bed with a magazine she had picked up while she was out with Karen. Richard wasn't home when they got in so they were met by Alfred who informed them of his whereabouts. Karen had decided to stay a little while to discuss the final plans, and of course to kick back with Kori, after which she left twenty minutes ago, leaving Kori to do what she was doing now. 

Since her back was facing the door and the music was on she didn't hear the door opening and someone creeping in on her, at least not until she felt a pair of lips on her neck.

"Richard. You're back," she cried happily.

"So are you it seems," he smiled while nestling in at the crook of her neck. "I have something for you. Close your eyes."

From his jacket he pulled out a square black box and placed it in Kori's hands. "Happy One-Week-Anniversary."

"You remembered?" Kori gasped opening her eyes.

"Of course I remembered. I couldn't forget the day we finally got together, that was like the highlight of my week," he said, and then he motioned to the box. "Go ahead, open it."

She carefully pulled it open, and there inside was an elegant white gold necklace with a beautiful charm for her name, encased with a small amethyst for her birthstone. (Amethyst being her birthstone was part of the reason why purple was her favorite color). It was simpler than the necklace he got her to wear for the ball, but he instantly knew that it would be the perfect thing to mark their one week of being together. Kori was frozen in shock.

"Are you okay?" Richard chuckled.

She couldn't speak much less react, however this got Richard a little worried. "Y-you don't like it?"

That was when she snapped out of her trance. "Like it? I can't believe you got me something so beautiful, and just for a one-week-anniversary…."

"Hey, hey, hey, "he said cupping her cheek, "you're worth it, and you know that."

"It's just that honestly, I was expecting a teddy bear if anything."

"You want me to take it back and change it for a teddy bear then?"

"NO!" He was playing her, and she fell straight for it. Kori realized his little game and playfully pushed him so he fell off the bed. He laughed and got back on, cuddling next to Kori and holding her tight, but not before putting the necklace on her.

"But seriously Richard, I do love it," she said admiring it on herself.

"Wear it tonight, when we go out." It was all he would ask of her, and to obey would be her pleasure.

* * *

"Hey Terra, bring those chips over here." 

"Sure Karen."

It was the day of the sleepover and the girls were already at Karen's, all except Kori, they were pretty eager to get things started.

"Rachel, have you seen…oh there it is."

"So is everything set up?"

"No, actually Jen, could you move that table over there, we're gonna need room to fit on the floor."

Karen wanted to use her living room to hold their get together, she lived by herself so it wasn't like she had to deal with parents or anything like that.

"Karen! Your cell's ringing, it's probably Kori."

"Got it." Karen sprinted for her cell and quickly answered it without looking at the ID.

"_Hey there, Bee. Missing me, coz I sure miss you."_

"Knock it off Sparky." It wasn't a call she'd expected but she was always glad to hear from Vic. "So aren't you and the guys doing anything tonight?"

"_Yeah, I'll see what Gar's doing, he might wanna come to the bar with me. Get drunk, maybe even snag a honey…"_

"You better not be serious about that or your _'baby'_ might just end up with a few scratches on her hood…and maybe in some other places."

"_No Karen, not my car, leave the car out of it. You know there's only one honey I wanna taste, right?"_

"Mmm, that's what I thought," she smirked, "Anyway look, I gotta go. I'll call you later."

"_A'ight. Take care Bee."_

"Yeah, you too. I'll see ya later."

"Karen," Terra whined, "I wanna watch Rachel's movie."

"We have to wait for Kori," she replied putting her cell away.

"Well where is she?"

"She'll be here soon Ter," Jen said coming up behind her.

"I don't get it, what's taking her so long?"

"Richard," Rachel and Karen said in unison like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Something tells me he's got something to do with it," said Rachel.

"Well okay, so we'll finish setting up till she gets here, right?"

They took Jen's advice and hoping that by the time they were done Kori would make an entrance. Terra decided to watch some T.V. to keep her occupied. So many channels yet still there was nothing to watch, and Karen had HBO. She mindlessly flicked the channels not caring that the rest were bustling around her.

"Hey you guys, do you hear that?" said Jen

They all stopped what they were doing, noticing lights reflecting on the ceiling of Karen's living room. All of them except Rachel bolted to the window to spy on the two love birds that they knew had just pulled in.

"Can you see em?"

"Ow, get your elbow out of my ribs."

"What are they doing?"

"Hey, I can't see."

"Is that them?"

"Yeah, look she's getting her helmet off."

"She's still on the bike."

"What are they doing?"

"They're just talking."

"Oh wait, look! He's turning around to give her a kiss."

Everyone: "AWWW."

"And they're still kissing."

"Wow, how long do you think they can survive without air?"

"Now that is solid lip lock."

"Is that his hand going under her...?"

"Oh she's getting off. You guys, she's coming."

"No wait, he just pulled her back."

"Gee Rich, possessive much?"

"I think it's romantic, he really doesn't want to let her go."

"Is it just me, or are they getting hot and heavy?"

"Look at the way he's grabbing her butt."

"She looks like she's enjoying it."

"You know, you should let them have some privacy."

"Come on Rache, this is the side of Richard Grayson no one hardly gets to see."

"I'm just saying, let them have their moment." It was obvious they were going to ignore Rachel, so she carried on reading her book.

"Aw, now he's leaving."

"She looks so sad."

"Well after that make-out session wouldn't you?"

"I wish I had a boyfriend."

"Hi everyone. Erm...why are you all sitting by the window?"

The girls had completely forgotten that Kori was coming inside, so they all looked to each other waiting for the other to explain.

"Don't worry about them Kori," said Rachel, "They just need some medication, if you ask me."

"Wow Kori, we didn't even hear you come in."

"Actually it was Rachel who let me in," said Kori, still not understanding why everyone was still at the window.

"Okay," said Karen, breaking the awkward moment, "so now that we're all here, let's party!"

It was a sleepover like any other sleepover really, they had food, shared stories, mostly funny ones which was where that minor Kitten episode came in, making that topic last for the next two hours. They left the movie till last, mostly because they were caught up in all the fun. Kori was getting more soda when Karen and Jen approached her.

"Soooo, how's Richard?" Jen asked her grabbing a plastic cup for herself, Karen and Kori.

Kori blushed like a tomato, reminiscing about their last moments before he left. Just thinking about him she realized she missed him a lot. She'd been away from him before, so why was this any different? "He's fine."

"Hey girl, it's just one night. I'm sure you love birds will see each other again," said Karen, looking towards the T.V where she could see the movie was starting. "Come on, we'd better get over there before Terra starts yelling at us."

Karen walked off but Jen stayed behind. "At least lover boy gave you a souvenir," she said indicating to Kori's neck.

Kori hadn't figured out the hidden meaning in that until she was staring at exactly what Jen meant in the bathroom mirror.

"Kori, come on the movie's starting. What's wrong?" Terra asked, coming to see what the hold up was and smiled. "Oh yeah, that. You seemed to be enjoying it so much it's no wonder he left you with a mark like that."

"It looks so...so noticeable."

"I take it you've never had a hickey before, am I right?"

"No, I don't believe I have."

Terra shook her head, "Come on, you're gonna miss the movie," she said pulling Kori out of the bathroom.

Turned out Rachel's choice in movies went with horror. Now Kori was really missing Richard, without him there was no one to hold onto, nobody to tell her it was going to be alright. A grueling two and a half hours later the movie ended and they all turned in for the night, talking about their favorite parts, which bits they thought were fake, and how cute some of the actors were.

It took a while but Kori did manage to fall sleep despite of the disturbing images that continued to play in her head. Soon everyone was in slumber land dreaming away.

**During the middle of the night...**

_It was dark, very dark. Kori couldn't see a thing. The place looked so eerie, yet painfully familiar. Then it was like someone just turned on a light. She found herself in chains, her wrists were bleeding and she could see bruises on her body. What was going on? Why was she here? The sound of laughter echoed through the darkness, evil laughter, distant at first, but then coming closer, and closer still, getting horrifically louder. And Kori knew who it belonged to, she started to cry. She didn't want to be there, how could she be? Didn't she escape, didn't she leave that terror behind?_

_"Kori?" A man's creepy voice sang out._

_"Whose there?" _

_"Kori?" He repeated same as before._

_"Please...please don't hurt me."_

_"I'm coming for you Kori- Anne."_

_"No, no, no!"_

_"Oh yes, yes, Kori. You can't hide from me."_

_"Please stop. Just leave me alone."_

"_Run all you want my little Kori-Anne, you will never escape me."_

_Kori whimpered in fright. She tried to wake herself up but she couldn't, she felt trapped._

_"I'm coming for you Kori, and soon I'll have you. One day you'll be so tired of running that you'll be..."_

_"STOP! I WON'T GO WITH YOU! I'LL NEVER GO!"_

_"No one can save you."_

_"STOP IT!" Kori tried running but she couldn't, all she found herself doing was crawling. She had to get away, she could still feel him, and he was near._

_"No one…"_

_"GO AWAY!"_

_"I'm coming for you."_

_"YOU CAN'T TAKE ME!"_

_"I'm coming..."_

Jen, Rachel, Karen and Terra suddenly awoke to the sounds of screaming. They looked to see that it was Kori shouting in her sleep.

"What's wrong with her?" Jen shouted trying to cover her ears.

"I don't know, she must be having a nightmare," Karen shouted back.

"Well make her stop."

"How?"

"I don't know, try waking her up."

Terra tried but Kori became even more hysterical, making everyone panic.

"NO! STOP IT! LEAVE ME ALONE! I'M NOT GOING WITH YOU! GET AWAY! GET AWAY!" Kori continued to rant in her sleep despite the efforts of her friends trying to snap her out of it.

"You guys, do something."

"Hit her over the head."

"Are you crazy, Richard will go berserk!"

"That's it! Richard! He'll know what to do. I'm going to call him." Karen quickly dashed to find her phone, leaving the others in trying to calm Kori down. Karen dialed and waited.

_"Hello?" _came a sleepy voice.

"Richard? It's me Karen. Listen, something's wrong with Kori, we don't know what to do."

_"Wait, hold up. What's wrong, what happened?"  
_

"I don't know she just woke up screaming. Rich, we can't stop her, she's really freaking out."

_"Alright, I'm coming."_

Meanwhile Rachel had tried to soothe Kori, seeing as no one else could. She went and slowly placed a hand on her shoulder, then placed the other hand on her other shoulder and lay her head against her chest gently rubbing her and shushing her. She rocked her back and forth and Kori's screams were soon reduced to whimpers.

"How is she?" Karen asked coming in.

"Better than before," said Rachel.

"That must've been one hell of a nightmare," said Terra.

Karen sighed, "Richard said he's on his way."

"Good," said Jen, finding a seat on the arm of a sofa. "Hey, do you think he'll blame _us_ for this? We _were_ watching that horror movie."

"Who says he has to know? Just hide the cover," Terra suggested as she yawned.

Karen heard a knock at the door and knowing it was Richard, quickly went to let him in.

"Hey Rich, she's right in there," she said directing him to the living room.

Richard promptly went inside to find Kori huddled in Rachel's arms, and the girls crowded round with worried looks on their faces. She was shaking uncontrollably, her breathing was quick and sharp and she kept saying the same things, "Not going with you. Leave me alone. Not going with you. Get away. Leave me alone."

The only time he had ever seen her close to being like that was when it had something to do with her father. When they were younger it was after he'd beaten her, and recently in the park it was after just talking about what he did to her when she was thirteen. He crouched down to her level.

"Kori? Kori, it's me." She stayed in her position shaking her head and clinging tighter onto Rachel.

"Kori," he stroked her head trying to make her respond to him, "Baby look at me, I just want to know if you're alright."

Terra and Jen both smirked at the cute nickname Richard used for her, they'd never heard him talk like that...at all...with anyone. It was kind of odd seeing him act that way, but ever so sweet at the same time.

Kori slowly turned her head towards his direction but still remained where she was. Richard took her face in his hands, she flinched a little with a whimper, but he stroked it so lovingly she relaxed into his touch. He could see her face was wet with tears and bloodshot eyes.

He took her hands and made her touch his face, "Kori, it's me, see? It's Richard."

Gradually she lifted herself off from Rachel and leaned forward towards him. "I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you." He kept saying things like this and it seemed to take effect. The more he spoke the more Kori was coming back to reality, and then she launched herself into his arms and held him for dear life.

"He's coming, he's coming after me," she kept whispering in his ear.

"Shhhh, it's alright," he said as he stroked her hair. "I've got you, no one's gonna hurt you."

Karen was warmed by what she saw and decided to suggest an idea that suddenly sprang to mind. "Hey Richard, it's okay if you wanna spend the night here, if it helps keep her calm, you know."

Richard silently nodded, acknowledging Karen's offer while still holding onto Kori.

"You can stay in the spare room, if you like. I'll show you where it is."

Richard picked up Kori in his arms and followed Karen to the bedroom. She opened the door for them then left, shutting the door behind her. He lay her down in between the sheets and snuggled in next to her, wrapping his arms around her slim waist and pulling her into him. Kori was still awake, with a somewhat blank expression on her face.

"You okay now, baby?" he asked her.

She sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm scared Richard. He's going to come after me."

"Kori, I'm here for you. Trust me, I'm not gonna let anyone hurt you. As long as we're together, we'll be alright."

She wondered how he always made her fell better, how he always knew what to say. "Thank you Richard, for coming out here in the middle of the night. I really appreciate this."

"Don't worry about it," he smiled. "Just remember, if you get scared I'm right here, okay?"

After kissing her forehead she snuggled up more into his chest and they both drifted off to sleep.

In the living room the girls were still recovering from that little episode.

"Whoa, that was some nightmare," said Jen. "Have you ever had that kind of nightmare where you're scared out of your wits like that?"

"Not really?" Karen replied, sitting down on the sofa. "Poor Kori though."

"Yeah, I wonder what she saw anyway," said Terra.

Rachel, who was lying in her sleeping bag and still awake, got to thinking at what Terra said. When she was holding Kori that time she heard her mutter something, something no one else had heard. She thought back to what it was, it sounded like, _"Please Daddy, don't hurt me anymore."_

"Probably saw a crazy guy with an axe on a killing spree, I mean that _was_ the last thing we were watching before we went to sleep." Rachel heard Jen say in answer to Terra's question, but Rachel was sure this wasn't about the movie. It was obvious to her that something haunted Kori from her past, and she had probably been plagued by it for God knows how long.

Eventually everyone had gone to sleep, it was better to get some rest and talk about it in the morning. To Rachel though, things were already becoming a little clearer.

* * *

The next morning the girls were at the breakfast table talking and eating away. Terra had strolled in droopy eyed, still yawning after the events from last night. The others had also been tired for the same reason when they got up, but a little coffee had soon fixed that bringing about the usual chirpy atmosphere around them. The room went silent just as Richard and Kori emerged through the doorway, hand in hand. 

"Hey you guys," Karen greeted, "how did you sleep?"

"Just fine," Richard replied rubbing Kori's arm.

"Well great, there's some breakfast if you want some so..."

"Wait Karen," Kori interrupted, "I'd just like to apologize to everyone for ruining the sleepover. I'm sorry, I guess you won't be inviting me to anymore of them after what happened."

The girls all looked at each other but smiled warmly at Kori.

"Aw Kori, we're not gonna get mad just coz you had a nightmare."

"Jen's right," said Karen, "we're just glad to see you're okay, and there'll be plenty more sleepovers to come and we're _all_ gonna be there...except Richard - no offense Rich."

"None taken."

"Besides, this is one sleepover I'll never forget," said Terra drinking her juice.

It was only a short while into breakfast while everyone was chowing that Richard cleared his throat after conversing with Kori and called for everyone's attention. This wasn't an easy subject for either of them but there was no use in trying to hide it anymore.

"Me and Kori talked this morning and we decided that you should all know what's going on…and why she had that nightmare." He sighed, not sure if this was the right thing to do, but looked to Kori as soon as he felt her hand on his arm and saw her nod, silently supporting him to go on.

"Okay, well...you know that Kori used to live here in Gotham a long time ago right?" The others nodded. "Yeah, well, when we first met, it was after her mom just died. I went to her house with Bruce to pay our respects and…we met, and we became friends ever since." Kori was looking down the whole time while the rest listened intently.

"Over time we became the best of friends, we always hung out together, and it was great." He smiled as he thought back to the wonderful memories he had of their childhood together, and laced his hand through Kori's.

"But..." Kori could feel him tensing up and she knew the hard part of the story was coming next. "Kori wasn't happy. Her dad...he was...abusing her." The couple heard gasps and some 'oh my gods' around the table. Richard still went on.

"Kori would always come running to me, hurt and in pain. She'd show up with bruises and sometimes even blood on her."

"Couldn't you do something for her, like I don't know, tell Bruce?" Jen asked him. Richard hesitated. He had always blamed himself for not doing more to save Kori when he could have done. It was one of the things he regretted most, and now everyone else was going to think it was his fault too, but it was Kori who continued the story.

"I wouldn't let him tell. He kept it to himself because I asked him to."

"But why Kori? Why would you wanna suffer so much and not let anyone help you?" said Terra.

It was now Kori's turn to feel tense, and Richard squeezed her hand for reassurance. She went on. "I was afraid...so afraid...he said he'd k-kill me...and Richard." She was sobbing now and Richard held her in his arms and put her head on his shoulder. The girls were too shocked to speak.

"Her dad always had a problem with Kori and me spending time together...so, he took Kori away. They moved. I saw the moving truck outside her house and so I went there to find out what was going on. Her dad just told me they were going far away, didn't say where exactly, just that they were leaving. Kori was already gone, she was staying with her aunt, or so her dad said. So I never got to say goodbye."

"During the years after that," Kori continued after Richard, "my father still beat me. He only let me go to school, other than that I wasn't allowed to go anywhere...or invite people over, so I never had any friends. Finally, I got the courage one day to leave. I'd made up my mind and knew that this was what I had to do. So I ran away, but daddy found out and he had one of his...friends come after me. Everywhere I went they would find me, I could never stay in one place for too long. It was hard because I left without having any money, so I couldn't just catch a train or a bus at first, and daddy's friends knew their way around too well and had connections everywhere. I started begging on the streets...I had to; I needed to get as far away from that place as possible. I traveled from town to town, but they never stopped chasing me. I always knew they were coming. I soon arrived in Gotham and tried to look up Richard through Bruce."

"Bruce told me that someone called Kori had been leaving messages for him..."

"And that's when you finally found her, huh Rich?" Terra teased.

"Yeah," he smiled, squeezing Kori tighter in his arms and looking down into her eyes. "That's when I finally found her."

"Wow, that was some story," said Karen leaning back in her chair.

"Kori," said Rachel with a more serious face, "Do you think he's still after you? I mean if he's had you followed all this time you think he knows you're here, in Gotham?"

Kori sighed and lowered her eyes. Richard took it upon himself to respond to that but it was in a menacing tone that sent chills down everyone's spines. "It doesn't matter, he's not getting his hands on her no matter what." _"I'll protect you Kori, I promise."_

* * *

Richard and Kori had arrived through the front door of the mansion, damp and wet. Not that it had been raining, actually it was a really hot sunny day, so hot that Karen had called for a water fight after breakfast. It was just what everyone needed to get refreshed. They unexpectedly ran into Bruce coming down the stairs. 

"I thought a sleepover was meant for girls only. What happened, couldn't stay away from her so you decided to crash the party?"

Richard was about to snap at him rather rudely when Kori cut in. "Oh Bruce, it wasn't like that I assure you. I...had a nightmare and Richard came over to make me feel better." She was a little embarrassed telling Bruce she had a bad dream and Richard having to come over and keep her calm. The last thing she wanted to feel like was a baby who couldn't take care of herself.

Alfred emerged and informed Richard that Vic had called earlier.

"Thanks Al, if he calls again let me know," then he led Kori up the stairs and past Bruce not even looking at him.

The tension in Richard was rather unusual, even for Richard, it was obvious to Bruce that there was more to this than what was being let on. He would need to find out the facts later on, hopefully when Richard was in a better mood.

* * *

The arcade was a favorite place of Gar's, this time he had dragged Vic there to try and beat him in a car racing game. 

"You can't beat me, you know you can't."

"I'm gonna cream you Vic!"

"Not if I cream you first!"

Wally came and caught the two fixed on their match. "Man, is this all you guys ever do? Don't you have a life or something?"

But the boys continued to play their match not breaking their concentration.

"AWW, NO WAY! YOU TOTALLY CHEATED!"

"DID NOT! You know I always beat you Gar."

"This game's rigged."

"Man, you say that about everything, your X-BOX, the games here at the arcade, just face it man, you suck."

"Best two out of three."

"Come on you guys," Wally said, "let's see what the girls are up to? I think they're done with their sleepover."

"Why, eager to see Jen?" Vic teased. Jen and Wally weren't a couple...yet, so Vic and Gar never passed up the opportunity to tease him for that. He had liked her since they met at a cafe where Jen worked. She had accidentally spilled a drink on him and offered to pay for his dry cleaning. He had found her so charming and sweet he introduced himself to her and she did the same. After that he kept coming back to the same place just to see her. She had spilled drink on him three times over the course of the next few meetings they had, and just when she thought he was going to yell at her he kissed her on the cheek. It was just a friendly peck but that didn't mean that it didn't make her stutter. He gave her his number, just in case she felt like calling. She stared at the piece of paper intently and was about to ask him something else when she looked up to see he was gone.

"Come on you two," Wally whined at his friends.

"Wait, let me call Karen and see what she's doing, I could have her and the girls meet us here somewhere."

"Don't forget Richard," said Gar.

Vic dialed but wasn't getting any reception on his cell, so he left to find a better connection somewhere else leaving Gar and Wally alone to talk.

"Soooo Wally, when you gonna get things going with Jen?"

"Just stop pressuring me alright? I really don't know."

"Dude you can't go on like this without asking her out. Just do it. Take a lesson from Richard, I mean have you ever seen him this happy?"

Wally laughed a bit, "Yeah, he had it bad."

"He got her just in time too, before Xavier got his hands on her anyway."

Wally nodded. Xavier could be very persuasive, not to mention unpredictable and everyone knew that.

"Vic says he still wants her." Gar said casually.

"What? Doesn't he know she taken?"

"Apparently he doesn't care." Gar said putting some coins in the vending machine.

"Richard better watch his back, or he won't know what hit him. It's bad enough they don't get along."

Gar grabbed his drink from the lower compartment of the machine. "Yeah, put those two in a room and all hell will break loose."

They saw Vic coming back who said that the girls will meet them at their usual pizza place. He also mentioned that he called Richard but he wasn't home, but left a message telling him he had called.

* * *

"Richard?" 

"Yeah Kor?" he answered playing with her hair. They had both changed into dry clothes and were now relaxing in Richard's room on his bed.

"There's something I haven't told you," she said tilting her head back. "You remember when I went out shopping with Babs?"

"Yeah. You still never told me what happened that day."

Kori didn't know if she could go on, but she knew there was no going back now that she brought it up. "Well, after the mall Babs took me to her father's office…she told me to wait for her there while she went off to find him. Anyway while I was there, I saw a file on the desk. It was marked Anders File."

She nervously started to twiddle with her clothes. "I picked it up and looked inside and started to read it. I found out it was the case file of my mother's death. Inside I read in the summary report that…that…"

"That what Kori?" Richard was looking right at her now, concern written on his face.

"…the brakes in the car she was driving….I think somebody interfered with them. The report said that they may have tampered with."

Richard sat up on his bed processing the information he just heard. He ran a hand through his hair trying to make sense of things. By this time Kori wasn't so sure she should've told him.

"Why didn't you tell me about this before, like the day you first found out?"

"I-I wanted to…I thought you might think I was being…I don't know, extreme?"

"Extreme?!"

The sudden rise in tone had startled her, making her afraid, she didn't mean for him to get mad. "I'm sorry Richard, I really am. I wasn't sure I believed it myself."

"I'm not angry at you Kor, it's just that this is a huge deal, and you didn't wanna tell anyone about it. According to that report someone may have tried to kill your mom…it just reminds me of when I lost my parents. I wanted so much to find their murderer Kori, I couldn't just sit around and be calm about it. It hurts even to think that someone tried to take my best friend's mom away like that, kinda feels like time's repeating itself."

He looked back at her leaning against the headrest, she sighed as her gaze was fixed on his sheets. He turned around so that he was facing her and took both her hands in his.

"Kori, I don't think we should sit around and do nothing. We need to look into this, it's important."

"Richard...I'm scared. What we discover might not be what we prepared for."

He nodded. "Yeah, I know Kori." Of course they both knew this was going to be difficult on them, especially on Kori, but Richard wanted to get to the bottom of this. Maybe he was still trying to avenge his own parent's death by pursuing this course of action. One thing he knew for certain was that his Kori needed him, she had questions she needed answers too, and he was going to find justice for her mother's death.

"What do you want to do Richard?"

"First thing's first, tomorrow morning we see Commissioner Gordon."

* * *

**Ooooh, is this getting juicy yet? Was Kori's mom's death really an accident...or not? If it wasn't then who killed her mom? And as for Kori's dad, is he really coming after her? Was her dream trying to warn her about something? And who thinks Xavier's hot? (I can hear you screaming for him First Angel) Find out what happens in the next chapter, only on Fanfiction.**


	6. Uncovering Truths

**Hey all! What's happening? Here's the next chappie for you. Thanks to ALL the reviews from cartoonstar, Nightstar Grayson, HeadStrongx3, creepyladie123, Dana-Fire, Star 4 Robin, RXS, RxS4Lyfe, and of course my editor, First Angel, whose approval being the reason you're seeing this chapter.**

** So have fun reading!  
**

* * *

**Chapter 6 – Uncovering Truths**

Wally, Gar and Vic turned to see Karen, Jen, Terra and Rachel coming their way as they entered their favorite pizza place. The boys hadn't ordered anything yet except for bread sticks as an appetizer; they thought it best to wait for the girls so they could decide together on what kind of pizza they wanted. Terra was still yawning.

"So, I guess you girls were up all night talking." Gar said noticing Terra's tiredness.

The girls all looked uneasily at each other. To be honest they were still shaky after hearing Kori's story, it hit them pretty hard.

"Something I said?"

"Actually Gar," said Rachel, "we were up watching a movie, but that's not why we're tired." She paused a bit before continuing. "Kori woke up screaming last night."

"What happened? Is she okay?" Vic asked in concern.

"Well after Richard came over she was…"

"Hold up! You had Rich with you at your sleepover?! And you didn't invite us?!"

"Shut up Gar and let Karen finish!" Rachel snapped.

Gar immediately retreated back into his seat. "Like I was saying, after Richard got there she was okay. We _had_ to call him, you should've seen her, she wasn't herself, she was completely scared out of her mind. I'd never seen anyone so scared before."

"Scared is when you're on a roller coaster," said Terra, "but she was like…she was…"

"Completely consumed by her worst fears like it was eating her from the inside," Rachel finished. Everyone gave her an odd stare.

"Yeah…what she said."

"So what was her nightmare about?" Wally questioned.

"Maybe when Kori gets here she can tell you herself. We can pretty much guess what she saw, but it's not for us to say." Jen replied.

**Earlier back at the Manor…**

"Who was on the phone?"

"That was Vic again. They're all gonna meet for pizza, they're just waiting for us and the girls to show up."

Kori was leaning against the wall staring up at the ceiling. So much had happened that morning alone. Her friends found out about her past, and she told Richard about the dreaded Anders File that awoke a new, yet suspicious mystery.

"Richard? You don't think we scared them when we told them about what happened to me, do you?"

"Why do you say that?" he asked pressing a few more keys on his cell phone and constantly checking his screen.

"Well they did look kind of….frozen…like they couldn't move."

Richard smiled at her. "Don't worry Kor, they'll be fine. I'm sure they'll recover from it." He searched around for his keys looking quite puzzled as to where he might have left hem.

"Um, Richard?"

"Give me a minute Kori, I just need my keys and we can go."

"But Richard…" Kori could see he wasn't listening, looks like she had to make him listen. She grabbed him by his shoulders and pushed him against the wall. Richard held a look of surprise at her swift movement, but then gave her a sly smirk.

"You know we don't have time to play right?"

"Is that all you think about?" She replied just as slyly. Then before he could say another word she dangled a pair of keys in front of his face.

"Where did you find those?" He asked, arms still wrapped around her.

She shook her head disapprovingly. "If you think back to ten minutes ago, you asked me to hold them for you while you were on the phone."

He sweat dropped. "So can I have them back now?"

"That depends."

"On what?"

"On what you're willing to do for them."

"Are you challenging me?"

"Mayyybe."

"Oh, then it's on."

In a second the two were quickly engaged in a playful wrestling match with Richard trying desperately to get his keys back from Kori. Who knew how long this would take…

**At the pizza place…**

Gar was looking at the menu with Terra, Vic was chewing on a breadstick, Karen had gone to the bathroom, and Rachel just sat there looking bored watching Jen and Wally immersed in their own conversation. Richard and Kori were yet to show up.

"Ew, Gar that sounds gross. What if we had that one with these toppings on em."

"Now _that's_ gross." Gar and Terra were trying to imagine up the worst choice combo of pizza that they could think of. They couldn't agree on the best tasting pizza so just for fun they tried it with the most disgusting. Vic didn't appreciate what he was hearing.

"Would you guys cut that out? I didn't come here to lose my appetite!"

"Chill Vic, it's not like we're actually gonna order it and force you guys to gorge it down," said Gar.

"But we could always make Kitten gorge it down," Terra said in a sly, evil smirk, earning an approving nod from Gar. "Oh my gosh! Did we even tell you what happened when Karen and Kori ran into her?"

This grabbed everyone's attention.

"You mean Kori has met Kitten?" Gar asked in astonishment.

It truly was a shocker for everyone as they all knew how Kitten felt for Richard, but also because she was a slut everyone hated, and her meeting someone as sweet as Kori, well they were scared what Kitten would do to her. Kori wouldn't hurt a fly, she didn't even know Kitten or the kind of person she was, so they could only hope she hadn't done something hurtful to her.

"So what happened?" The boys were dying to know.

Just then Karen came back and walked in on the conversation. "What are we all talking about guys?"

"Karen! Tell us what happened when you ran into Kitten the other day." Vic urged on her.

"Is that what y'all talking about?" Karen sighed. "Nothing really, her and Kori bumped into each other, Kori tried to apologize but Kitten being the bitch that she is wasn't being very nice about it."

"But then she realized who she was," continued Jen, "and she got all like _(in brat-like mocking tone)_ just remember, you may live with Richard but he's mine, mine, mine, blah, blah, blah."

Wally couldn't help but laugh at Jen's childish impersonation, making Jen smile back at him. To him she was always fun to hang around with, she always knew just how to make him laugh.

"Wait, wait, wait! You didn't hear the best part," said Terra, "Go on Karen, tell em."

"Kitten said to Kori that Richard won't be hers forever and soon he'll realize only one person is good enough for him. And I said..." she paused for dramatic effect which drove everyone crazy and scream at her to keep going. "I said...it would be a shrink after dating you."

Everyone at the table burst out laughing, Vic laced a loose arm over Karen's shoulder and pulled her in for a sloppy smooch on the cheek. They were all in fits until their sides ached.

"Well you guys all seem happy."

They stopped to see Richard standing beside them, arm around Kori's waist. "What are you all laughing at anyway?"

"We were just telling them about the time me and Kori ran into Kitten a couple of days ago." At that point Richard gave a concerned look towards Kori.

"You never told me you met Kitten." She blushed ashamedly like she was going to get into trouble. "She didn't say anything mean to you did she?"

"Man, if you heard what Karen said to her you'd be laughing just like we were," Gar explained, and they retold the story to Richard as he and Kori took their seats.

Well into the hour after Richard and Kori's arrival everyone's stomachs were about to burst as they tried to finish off the remaining slices. Wally and Jen had gotten a table all to themselves and were busy chatting away. The others remained where they were, their heavy consumption of food making them too lethargic to move...for some anyway. Richard was playing around with Kori discreetly under the table, whether it was grabbing her hand, or putting his hand on her leg, or caressing her foot with his. It didn't matter to her, she was enjoying everything he was doing to her. Thankfully no one else noticed their little game.

"So Rich, you up for shooting hoops with me tomorrow morning?" Vic asked him.

"Can't. I gotta see Commissioner Gordon."

"Sounds important. I guess I shouldn't ask what it's about."

"It's about my mother's death." Kori blurted out, making Richard give her an odd stare, and Vic, Terra, Karen, Rachel and Gar's eyes widen.

"I-I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't have...It's just that you would've found out sooner or later..." Kori stuttered in embarrassment. She didn't want to look at Richard, he was probably upset with her for coming out with such a huge statement, as secretive as Richard liked to be. The others noticed from their expressions that this was a sensitive topic for the couple.

"Hey you know guys, it's okay. We're not gonna make you tell. We're just...ya know..."

Richard sighed. "I may as well tell you. It was when Kori and Babs were coming back from the mall and they had to make a small stop..."

**With Wally and Jen...**

"Why don't you ever take the day off sometime, you always work so hard at that cafe."

"I need the money Wally, I have to pay for my education somehow."

"So what are you looking to be anyway?"

A tinge of pink lit her cheeks, making her look adorably cute to Wally. "You'll just laugh if I tell you."

"No I won't, I promise. Cross my heart."

"Okay. I want to be a...an Environmentalist." She bit her lip nervously, waiting to hear his chuckle, a snicker...anything...

**Back with the others...**

Richard had told them everything about what Kori found, and Kori even mentioned the pictures she saw of her mother's accident.

"Wait a minute", Vic interjected, "If her mom's accident was all those years ago, what was the file doing on the Commissioner's desk recently? Is the case being re-opened or something?"

That hadn't even crossed Richard's mind. What _was_ the file doing on that desk? Maybe the Commissioner was just curious and needed to look something up, but still, what initially triggered him to get that file out in the first place?

**With Wally and Jen...**

Jen was still looking away from Wally, thinking he was going to burst out laughing any second, until she felt his hand take hers and looked up to his smiling face.

"Why aren't you laughing?"

"Because I promised I wouldn't. Why, you want me to laugh?"

"No it's just..."

"Listen, I think it's great you have ambition and a dream to follow, and I admire that you're working so hard for it."

A tiny smile appeared on her lips. "I don't see why you have to be so embarrassed about it Jen. It's not like you're the first person to go for that sort of thing."

Jen shook her head, her smile now increasing. "I really thought you were going to laugh."

"Aw, come on! I care about you. I would never want to hurt you."

"Do you mean that?"

"Now what kind of a person would I be if I didn't?" That got a little chuckle out of her.

"So Jen," he said leaning back in his seat, "I got these tickets to a game next week, you wanna go with me?"

She didn't answer. "Jen? Jen?" He followed her gaze over to the others and saw that she was too busy staring at them.

"What do you suppose they're talking about over there?" she asked out aloud, noticing how they all hung on each other's word.

"Probably nothing." Wally shrugged, but Jen begged to differ.

"No Wally, look at the way they're talking, they all look so...serious."

Wally observed the group. Everyone was huddled in together like there was some secret. "Yeah well, we _could _ask them about it later. I'm sure they'll tell us if we ask nicely. Now Jen, about those tickets for the game..."

**With the others...**

"Hey don't worry too much about it Rich, after all you _are_ going to see the Commissioner tomorrow anyway, you can find out everything you need to know then."

"Yeah," he sighed in a retreating manner, "I guess I'll have to wait."

"The Commissioner can be a busy man, do you even know if he'll be available tomorrow," Rachel asked in her monotone voice.

"Hey, it's not like he's gonna turn me away when I show up."

Rachel gave him a glare, the kind that convinced Richard that she was right and if he didn't listen he would regret it. "Alright, alright, I'll give him a call later," he said taking Kori's hand and placing it in his lap. It was the first time she managed to look at him since she unintentionally revealed why they were seeing the Commissioner in the first place. She smiled and leaned in more to him.

Unknown to anyone's knowledge a mysterious figure discreetly watched the group converse together as they huddled close. The figure stood silent until a sound was heard coming from his ear piece.

_"Confirm visual."_

"Target is in sight, but not alone," the figure replied.

_"Do you wish to switch targets?"_ The person buzzed over the ear piece.

"No. I think we've found who we're looking for."

_"State activity."_

"They're just talking."

_"Do you intend to act?"_

"No. Let them be. It isn't time to make our move yet." With that said the transmission ended and the figure left with a devious smile**.  
**

* * *

**The next day…**

The Commissioner's office was being cleaned so he had arranged to meet with Richard and Kori in another office. It was about the same size as the Commissioner's, but it was just used for storage. Kori acted nervously, her fingers were fidgety and she was constantly biting her lip. Richard on the other hand was calm and confident, sitting up straight and staring at the Commissioner dead in the eye while he talked. The Commissioner had just sat down and had his finger tips pressed together leaning with one elbow on the desk.

"I had a feeling I'd be seeing you soon," he said. He was speaking to both but was directing his gaze at Kori. "So, what is this important matter that you said you needed to discuss?"

Richard cleared his throat. "It's concerning a case file you have, Kori claims she saw it in your office the other day."

"The Anders File." The Commissioner responded as he nodded. "Kori here seemed pretty...struck, when she left here with Babs that day. I was wondering why she looked pale coming out of my office."

"We need to see that file, sir." Richard requested getting straight to the point. He never did like to stall.

"Of course, it's right here." From a drawer he pulled out a yellow file and handed it over to Richard. Richard gave him a strange look. It was odd that the Commissioner happened to have it ready before even knowing Richard was going to ask for it. Noticing his reaction the Commissioner responded, "Like I said, I knew I'd be seeing you soon, and it would have something to do with that," he motioned to the file with his eyes.

Both Kori and Richard looked through the file, scanning each piece of information they came across. Every time they would turn the page Kori would hesitate, still remembering the images of her mother's car accident and afraid of what horrific thing she would find out next. One thing she knew for sure, she was glad she wasn't here alone, she had no idea how she would cope by herself. Richard looked back up at the Commissioner straight faced.

"You do realize we're dealing with a homicide case here."

"I know, but we never really had enough evidence to keep the case open."

"Until now?"

"What do you mean?"

"What made you decide to take the file out recently?"

The Commissioner took a deep breath and leaned forward, lowering the tone of his voice. "Look, this is off the record, but I'm only telling you two this. Something's going down, we don't know what exactly, but we've been picking up on something strange. It's too early to tell yet but…let's just say, I think there was more to Lou-Anne's death and why she died."

Kori's eyes widened yet she was so confused. She had never expected to hear anything like this at all, what sounded like a..."A conspiracy? Is that what this is all about?" The Commissioner and Richard glanced towards her.

"I'm afraid nothing is certain at this point yet, we don't have all the facts on the case."

A few moments more of skimming through the file and Richard decided it was all they needed to know for the moment. He got up from his seat motioning to Kori that they should be going, who was surprised that he was already done with his questions and looked at him unexpectedly. She felt the Commissioner hadn't told them enough. Richard noticed her reaction but continued to make for their exit.

As they left the building Kori was still in thought over why Richard left when it was obvious there was still more to inquire about the case. She summoned up her courage and was about to ask him when…

"I know what you're thinking."

Kori stood in shock for a few seconds but it passed and she was able to respond. "Really?"

He made a sharp turn into an alley, most likely to hide from the stalking eyes of undercover paparazzi that continuously spied on him. Kori allowed him to lead her wherever he wanted to go, until they reached a secluded area where there seemed to be no sign of life and the sounds of the city could no longer be heard. He stopped abruptly only to press her against the wall and lean into her real close so that their faces were inches apart, but he held a stern gaze.

"I know there's still a lot more we need to find out, but to be able to get _all_ the information I need to resort to other…methods."

"What kind of methods?" Kori questioned softly.

"I can't tell you, but I promise you Kori, someday you'll know everything. I just…" he seemed to struggle as if trying the find the right words. "I just need a little time, that's all."

She noticed how a hint of darkness briefly crossed his features and stared into his eyes intensely, as if trying to search his soul and into the deep crevices of his heart and mind. She had always known there was something going on with him, certain things he would never talk about. Though she accepted that she still didn't push him to open up, but whatever this thing, this secret was, it was driving her to the edge of curiosity, and she wondered how long it would take her to be patient with him.

She nodded silently and he tore his eyes away from hers and slowly backed off of her. Kori remained in her spot, contemplating on whether to say anything. What was there to say? Yes, she still had questions but she had to trust him. Richard knew what he was doing…right? Right now, she could only trust.

He laced his fingers through hers and led her back towards the hectic atmosphere of the city, into the depths of the bustling passers by and crossing the street to a small diner where he pulled her inside. Richard ordered them both a latte and they remained there in a comfortable silence.

* * *

"_In Stock Market news word is that **Wilson Corp** has made yet another bid for the **Mason Company**, marking the continuation of the nine year battle between **Wilson** and the **Tamaran Stock Company.** It's been a race between the two to see who could buy **Mason **before anyone else can, yet rumor has it that **Mason**, being the most valuable stock on the market, may have their lost heir to the company within reach to take their place, though sources still have no clue to the identity of the heir to the **Mason Company**."_

Bruce sighed as he turned off the T.V. and gently rubbed his temples. He spotted Kori sitting on the ledge of the window sill staring into space. He silently walked towards her and stopped a short distance away.

"So how did it go with the Commissioner?"

"Huh?" She hadn't noticed someone was talking to her until she turned her head slightly to see Bruce standing a few feet from her. "Oh I'm sorry Bruce, I was lost there for a minute." She said trying to compose herself.

"So I could see," he chuckled, leaning against the wall. "From the looks on your faces you and Dick didn't seem to have much luck."

"Actually…" she trailed off falling back into her thoughts.

"What did you find out Kori?" His voice began to sound as though it was pressing her to reveal what she knew.

"It was murder." The words just rolled off her tongue effortlessly without emotion. "But apparently there's not enough evidence to call it that. As far as the law is concerned, it was still just an accident." Her face was hard and cold like nothing affected her, like her emotions were dead.

"I thought as much," he replied coolly.

Kori hastily fixed her gaze at Bruce. "You mean to say you knew?"

"I always had my suspicions, but now I guess you confirmed it."

Kori turned back to the window and continued to stare like she was doing before. "I just don't understand why anyone would want to kill her. What could she have done?"

Her words had triggered an image in Bruce's mind. He let his eyes rest as his mind transformed his surroundings to another part of the Manor, a part where it seemed somewhat brighter. He found himself in a room, it was elegantly furnished like all of the rooms in the Manor were, but here its true beauty glowed more due to its location. The sun's rays pierced in brighter through the lace curtains, giving the doorway a spotlight scene, as if in preparation for the arrival of someone special. That someone had emerged and glided in as soft as the wind. Bruce stared at her as she daintily walked, her stunning smile never leaving her lips. She stopped a few feet in front of him and fixed her eyes on him.

"When you called I didn't know if I should come," she said.

"I'm glad you did." His rich deep voice sent chills up her spine.

"Why?" She whispered.

Just as he was about to answer Alfred had walked in asking if there was anything he could get Bruce's guest. She simply requested some water with a lemon."

As soon as Alfred left she spotted a vase full of flowers on the center table in the middle of the room and went to smell them. As she bent over her hair cascaded down past her right shoulder, which shielded her face from Bruce, but she immediately held it out of the way as she took in the fragrance of the white roses. After observing her actions Bruce had slowly walked over to her as she stood up, and took one single rose from the vase placing it in her hand. Her eyes gradually rose to meet his.

"You didn't answer my question," she said to him.

"What question would that be?"

"Why are you glad that I came here?"

"Because Lou-Anne," he stroked her hair, "it's what _you_ want, and I won't deny you anything."

Their gazes remained locked onto each other and their faces were drawing in closer, she could feel his muscular body touching hers and his warm breath on her skin making it tingle. Her eyes closed mechanically, while he was set to make the final move.

"Miss Kori?"

"Yes Alfred?" Bruce heard Kori say. Whatever he had been seeing then was now gone, but his thoughts still lingered.

"Miss Rachel is on the phone for you."

"Thank you Alfred." Alfred nodded with a respectful smile before leaving.

Kori hopped off the window, and noticed Bruce leaning not far from her on the wall. Had he been standing there this whole time, not that she really minded but it just seemed so unlike him, but then she caught a glimpse of his eyes. It was as though he was in deep thought. She couldn't help wonder what could possibly grab his attention like that.

"Bruce? Are you…alright?"

He steered his head towards her with a stiffened gaze overshadowing his features, his stare didn't falter but remained fixed. She saw him mouth a word mutely, though she didn't hear she did manage to read his lips, and realized what it was to her surprise.

"_Lou-Anne. He said Lou-Anne,"_ she realized in her mind.

She saw that he was still staring and tried to bring him back to reality. "Bruce? It's me, Kori." At the mention of her name he blinked a few times and became more aware of his surroundings. He relaxed, assuring a concerned Kori that he was fine. She, remembering that she had someone waiting on the phone for her, rushed away to answer it, but still remaining bewildered by that strange experience.

"Kori."

She turned around nervously to face Bruce at the sound of her name.

"I want you to be careful…**both** of you…when dealing with this case." Kori simply nodded and turned back round to leave.

He was still contemplating over the minor incident that occurred moments ago. It appeared that Bruce's image hadn't completely left him. He knew what he had accidentally called Kori, and that she may have even noticed. Well, she did resemble so closely to her mother, but still, what was he going to tell her now? Is it time she finally knew?

"I thought you'd be gone."

It was Richard. He had plunged straight to work on the Anders Case after both he and Kori had returned from seeing Commissioner Gordon. It had been hours since then and it seemed he finally came up for a breath of fresh air.

"Having any luck?" Bruce asked. He never needed to elaborate too much with Richard, it was always like they could read each other's minds. They would usually know what the other was talking about.

"Too early to tell," he said, reading something in the newspaper he had picked up. "Especially when you're dealing with homicide."

"So it's that obvious then?"

Richard looked over his paper at him square in the eye. "Alright Bruce," he sighed folding the newspaper, "I know that you're dying to tell me, seeing as how you're so good at this."

Bruce smiled, "I just think what I know would give you somewhere to start from. But don't say I don't do anything for you."

"Now when have I ever said that?" he quipped, earning himself a glare from Bruce.

**Meanwhile on the phone...**

"So is this place far then?" Kori was talking to Rachel who sounded even duller on the phone.

"_I wouldn't say far, just…hidden. So you still wanna go? Normally I would be asking Gar to come with me but I'm not speaking to him."_

"Oh Rachel, what did he do now?"

"_You remember that book I was reading at the sleepover?"_

"Yes, what about it?"

"_Well I also brought it with me when we all met for pizza yesterday. I stupidly let Gar drive me home after that and I happened to leave my book in his car."_

"So…ask him back for it."

"_I did. Guess what he said?" _Kori paused, waiting for her answer.

"_He said he LOST IT!"_ The sudden outburst from Rachel made Kori jump a little.

"I'm sure it's around somewhere. If you just search his car maybe…"

"_Search **his** car? That's like searching through a forbidden forest when you're stranded on a weird planet. You never know what you'll find. I told him so many times to clean that damn car of his, but does he listen, no."_

Kori smiled. She could see Gar and Rachel becoming more than just friends, if Rachel could just get a little less hostile….

"_So are you coming or not?"_

"You mean to that coffee house place?"

"_Yeah."_

"Sure, why not. I'll see if I can get Alfred to drop me off there."

"_If you're gonna ask Alfred make sure it's not in a limo or something flashy, it won't fit the scene, believe me."_

"Alright. So what's the place called again?"

"_Raven's."_

After a few more of Rachel's instructions on things to remember when going to a Goth-type place Kori hung up, and saw Alfred conveniently pass by.

"Oh Alfred?"

"Yes Miss Kori?"

"Would you…by any chance…drop me off somewhere?" She still never liked treating Alfred like some sort of slave, she had always regarded him in high respect, more like a dear friend rather than a butler. Often she would try and help him with his chores whenever she could, it was the least she could do for him. He preferred her not to concern herself with such things but didn't really mind her help when she offered, insistently.

"Of course, where do you wish to go?"

"It's a coffee house called Raven's. Are you sure it's no trouble Alfred? If you have something else to do I…"

"It would be my pleasure to take you anywhere you wish my dear." Alfred said with a smile.

"Alright, well I'll get ready then. I won't be long, promise."

* * *

**At the Coffee House…**

Rachel and Kori were sat at a table way back in the corner. Rachel said it was the best seat in the house; she liked being secluded at times which came as no surprise to Kori, at least not anymore. Kori wasn't wearing the same clothes as when she had left the Manor, Rachel offered to help her out when she discovered Kori had nothing to wear that fit the Goth scene, so she searched around for something she could borrow before she left and hoped that Kori could pull off the look. And she did. Although it didn't fit her personality black looked pretty good on her. Her black pants were Rachel's and since she was shorter than Kori they looked like crop pants on her. Her fitted t-shirt was black with the words: 'IT'S A GOTH THING.' And to top off her look was a black beret.

"How did it go with the Commissioner?" Rachel asked.

Kori shrugged and shook her head.

"Wanna talk about it?" No answer. "It wasn't an accident was it Kori?"

Kori's eyes shot up to Rachel, and then she sighed. "It's been almost ten years since she died Rachel, all this time I thought it was just fate but…it was murder. Someone took her life. The question is who, and why."

"What about the case? Is it going to be re-opened?" Rachel asked in her usual plain tone.

"It's one thing to believe that what happened was planned, but to prove it is totally another, especially if it's to re-open this case."

"You're faced with quite a challenge then," said Rachel sipping away at her tea.

"Rachel…I'm never going to find peace, am I? I thought after finally being with Richard things would be alright and the nightmares would be over…but they came back. They always come back."

"They're about your father, aren't they? Just like the one you had at Karen's."

Kori nodded, keeping her gaze on the same spot she had been staring at for the past few minutes.

"You always knew didn't you Rachel? You could always tell there was something…strange about me." Rachel looked up to see Kori staring at her with a small smile.

"Was I that easy to read?"

"No. You didn't let on much, but for some reason, I knew I wouldn't be surprised if you did suspect something. You're really easy to talk to."

"I'm glad I can be tolerable, especially for you."

"What do you mean?"

"Well you seem so happy anyone would think you'd be the last person to be having problems."

Kori laughed lightly at that. Just goes to show how looks can be deceiving. She watched as each person walked on stage reciting some sort of poem reflecting on some dark thought or other. Oddly their words seemed to travel to her, tuning in to her mind, like they all knew her, like she wasn't a stranger to them. They all seemed to share some sort of common ground with her. Suddenly to Rachel's surprise Kori got up from her seat and made her way to the stage. She stepped up and calmly took the microphone. Rachel stared intently, half believing at what she was about to do, until everyone silenced to hear Kori's voice.

"_Darkness closes in no matter where you run,  
Always following no matter where you hide,  
Running, stalking, hiding, following,  
Where can you go, where do you escape,  
Just when you think you give it the slip  
It is still there, lurking not far behind.  
You want the light, but the light doesn't want you,_

Rachel noticed how her face held no expression whatsoever.

_Where do you go?  
Where do you run?  
Is this all you're destined for?  
You've been running for so long that it's second nature,  
Trying to escape your demons,  
**My** demons, chasing after me like prey,  
Wrapped in the storm of my past,  
It's coming, **he's** coming,  
Darkness is my Predator,  
While I am…a Prey of the Storm."_

She let her head drop and then silently stepped off the stage making way for the next person to come up. Rachel was frozen, and that didn't happen too often. Here was this cheery, happy, bright colored girl, who just put on a display of complete darkness that sent a chill even in Rachel.

Kori sat back down opposite her without a word as if nothing happened and idly starting inspecting her nails.

"Kori…that was…"

"I have to say that felt good." Kori responded with the same stone face she had on before when she was on stage.

"Maybe I should start bringing you here more often from now on." She looked at her mug and saw that it was almost empty. "Well, I think I need to go and get a refill." Kori watched Rachel head to the counter to get more tea, almost not noticing someone else taking her place opposite her.

"Well, well, well, we meet again cutie."

With all that currently weighed on her mind Kori was only mildly surprised to see him. "Xavier, or X as you prefer. What brings you here?"

He was leaned back on his chair eyeing Kori up and down. "What does it matter? Great performance by the way, I didn't think this was your kind of place."

"Doesn't seem like yours either."

"No need to be harsh there, cutie." He reached forward and placed a hand on top of the one that was playing with a napkin on the table. Kori made no attempt to resist his touch. "I didn't even have a chance to get to know you properly."

Now she looked _him_ up and down. He was dressed in all black with a leather jacket on, and he looked undoubtedly good. No, sexy was more the word. He pulled on her hand to draw her in closer to his face.

"Trust me cutie, you'll find me very interesting, and by the way you were checking me out, I think you already do."

By this time Kori was too mesmerized to realize what he was doing, his eyes were so alluring and she found herself drawing into his lips.

"AHEM!" Kori sprang back before anything could happen.

X looked to see an evil glare aimed straight at him. "Rachel. What a surprise," he said with a hint of regret in his voice.

"Cut the bull and tell me what you're doing here," she snapped.

"Relax Rae, it's not a crime to take a load off and get some coffee." He replied smoothly.

"Don't call me that, and I know you better than to come here without a reason."

"A reason," he chuckled while looking at Kori. "Can't I just sit and talk to someone who happens to be…interesting?"

"It depends what exactly it is that you find so 'interesting' about them," she didn't like X anywhere near Kori, anything to do with him always meant trouble. "Now get out of my seat."

X abruptly got up and stood closer to Rachel so that his mouth was by her ear. "What's really eating you babe? Still missing the nights when it got hot between us…really hot?" Rachel shivered. "Just say the word babe, and we can…" He whispered the last part in her ear making Rachel slam her eyes shut and grind her teeth. He knew too well how to push her buttons, unfortunately for her. Seeing his effect on her seep in he took the chance to bend down to Kori's ear and whispered something seductive, then kissed her neck slowly before he left.

Eventually Rachel recovered and she hastily sat back down scowling. He had come and ruined her whole night. Was he right though, did she still miss him? No. She was definitely over him. He hurt her and she would never forgive him for that.

"Rachel?"

"Yeah Kori, what is it?"

"Do you want to go? You don't look too good…and, I don't really wish to stay either."

Great, now X had to ruin Kori's night too, as if he wasn't enough chaos for Rachel. She thought about what Kori said and decided that they should go, after she'd finish her tea of course.

* * *

The sun had set and there were already a few stars out in the night sky. Kori walked in through the gate after she was dropped off outside and buzzing the intercom so that Alfred could let her in. She opened the door to see Richard waiting for her on the stairs. When he saw her he was pleasantly surprised, observing her in her all black outfit. 

"Wow, interesting ensemble. The Goth look suits you."

Kori smiled, "Rachel lent me these clothes so that I…fit in at Raven's Coffee Shop."

He hadn't expected Kori to be anywhere near a place like that, let alone Rachel inviting her, nevertheless he wasn't complaining, seemed like Rachel's influence of fashion sense did wonders for Kori. "So do I get a kiss? I haven't seen you all day and… I missed you…a lot."

"Aw really? Come here then." She laughed reaching out a hand for him which he gladly took, and wrapping her up in a loving hug while he kissed her deeply.

When their lips separated Kori remembered asking him how his investigation into the Anders Case was going.

"Well, you know the car your mom was driving? Days before the accident it'd gone in for an inspection which it passed with flying colors. So as far as who did it I doubt it was anyone at the Mechanic's, I'm guessing it was someone close to home. I have a list of possible suspects but still working on the motive."

Kori nodded with a fake smile. "Did you speak to the Commissioner again, is that how you got all this information?"

"Um…no. I got it from Bruce, he told me."

Something told her that Bruce was more involved than she first thought. Should she ask him about it? Would he tell her? Did he even have the answers she needed to know?

"Kori? Baby, you alright?"

"Uh…fine Richard. I just need to go to my room, I'm tired. It's been a long day."

"Alright, let me know if you need anything, like someone to hold you," he said slyly, nuzzling in her neck.

"Count on it," she said unraveling herself from him, and she ascended up the stairs towards her bedroom.

* * *

It had just been her and Richard for the evening meal, Bruce as usual couldn't attend because of work, or so Richard said. It would be nice to see Bruce at the table more often, though even Richard sometimes missed dinner in the evenings, saying that it's something to do with work. Didn't work usually come with timings? She had to admit, Bruce was very dedicated to his company. 

It was about after 10:00pm and Kori was wandering the halls staring at a picture in her hand, she was so absorbed in it she didn't see where she was going and bumped into Bruce, falling to the floor and dropping the picture at the same time.

"Oh Bruce, I'm so sorry, how clumsy of me."

"It's fine Kori. Here, let me help you," he said offering a hand to her. "Are you hurt?"

"No, really, I'm okay." Noticing the small picture on the floor he picked it up and gave in to curiosity as he turned it over. He glanced up at Kori, then back at the photo with a sigh.

"Still carry a picture of her I see."

"Of course, she was my mother. Sometimes when I feel lost I use her picture for comfort, it's like she is right here with me."

He thought for a second. "Kori, I'd like you to follow me if you don't mind."

She wasn't sure what he wanted, that was a complete mystery to her, yet she agreed nonetheless. "If you insist."

They entered into a large room with huge windows that overlooked the whole front yard up to the gate and even beyond that. He sat down behind his desk and motioned for her to sit in the armchair opposite. He still had the picture in his hand as Kori noticed, except it was face down on the desk. Bruce slowly rubbed his temples and then spoke.

"St. Augustine once quoted: 'Better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all.' I think about that sometimes wondering, what if that fateful night never happened, what if she never came into my life the way she did, what if I never knew her?"

Kori observed as he stood up to go and pour himself a drink of brandy. He stayed there with his back turned to her but continued to talk. "Lou-Anne was a kind hearted woman, who didn't deserve the life she had fallen into. I was submerged in complete darkness when she came and brought light into my world, just the way you did with Richard. She opened my eyes to something...amazing. I'd never recalled feeling that way before, I guess not since I lost my...my parents...when I was a boy."

Kori never knew Bruce's past, she'd always assumed he had a somewhat normal childhood. She remembered now, that's why her mother felt a certain sorrow towards him, she had known this whole time, she even once hinted to a 7 year old Kori about it. It was when she was getting ready for bed, and her mother came to her room to tuck her in. Kori was saying her prayers and her mother reminded her not to forget those children who lost their parents and had no one to take care of them, like Bruce. "But Mr Wayne isn't a child." Kori had said confused at her mother's words. "No, but he was once." Of course then she didn't understand, but now it was becoming clear.

"It had started out with only the odd visit from her with something she cooked. You would probably remember, she would bring you too on occasion."

It was faint in her mind but when she really thought about it she could recall certain things.

"Something that I had never expected happened between us, we became close friends. I found myself opening up to her with ease, usually when you have a dark past it's hard to trust someone and let them get close to you, but with Lou-Anne, she made it all easy. Before I knew it I was inviting her back, whether it was for a walk in the garden, tea on the balcony, or a fancy party, I just wanted to see her again. One rainy night, she came here, cold and wet, she seemed very upset. I remember it as though it was yesterday...

_**Flashback...**_

_Bruce hurried to the door after Alfred informed him that Mrs. Anders had arrived. It had been raining hard and Bruce didn't want to keep her waiting any longer than necessary. He opened the door to be met with a completely drenched red haired woman. She was wearing a white dress and was using her small jacket to shield her head from the rain. Her eyes were puffy and red, which meant she had been crying._

_"Lou-Anne," he breathed._

_She immediately leapt into his arms crying even more while he wrapped his arms around her. Then he walked her inside and had Alfred fetch a blanket and something warm for her to drink. She had calmed down after sobbing for a while in Bruce's arms and gently looked up to him. He held a sympathetic gaze for her as he rubbed her arms soothingly. Then remembering why she had come she looked away in sadness._

_"Lou-Anne, will you please tell me what happened?"_

_"I can't take it anymore Bruce. I'm not as strong as you are." _

_"What do you mean?"_

_"Myan came home drunk and I...well I just didn't like it and tried to talk to him about it. But it turned into one big fight and Myan ended up losing his temper, then he...he..."_

_"He what Lou-Anne? What did he do?"_

_"He hit me," she whispered through her sobs._

_"Where?"_

_Lou-Anne instinctively started rubbing her arm as she took sharp breaths. Bruce was shocked, his anger was beginning to build up inside him._

_"Is this the first time?" No answer. He grabbed her by the shoulders and made her look at him "Lou-Anne. Is this the first time?" he demanded._

_Her eyes looked down sorrowfully shedding more tears as she shook her head no. Bruce instinctively held her closer to him while she cried._

_"Lou-Anne, it's okay."  
_

_"No! It's not okay? He's done it before, and I let him!" she cried out abruptly getting up, and then falling back into sobs, "I let him hurt me. He says I'm worthless, that I'm...a nothing."_

_At that moment Bruce had gone up to her and took her face into his hands looking her in the eyes. "You're anything but. You're the most beautiful, precious woman I've ever come to know. Anyone who thinks otherwise obviously has no clue." _

_He was still holding her face when Alfred had come in with a blanket and some hot tea, and also to tell Bruce that he had a phone call waiting for him. Bruce told Lou-Anne he'd be right back and she nodded, and then left the room momentarily. She walked to the large window to lose herself in her thoughts. Myan was becoming more and more dangerous, for a while now she had a bad feeling about him. Something was going to happen but she didn't know what. What would happen to her, what would happen to her little Kori? She was scared. She could tell Myan was planning something, being the business tycoon he was. She was so immersed in her mind that she didn't notice Bruce coming up behind her until he placed a hand on her shoulder, making her jump._

_"Sorry, I didn't mean to frighten you."_

_She smiled warmly at him. "It's alright, I was just...thinking."_

_She felt his arm wrap around her as she held her blanket. "You don't have to worry, I'm here for you." _

_She gradually turned her head towards him and he in turn did the same. Caressing her face he pulled her in closer so that she wasn't facing the window anymore, but just him. Then, he bent down to catch her lips in his for the first time. She didn't resist, she was frozen for a few seconds before it registered in her body what actually was happening. Then to her amazement she began kissing him back, circling her arms around his neck, letting the blanket around her fall freely to the floor. But she was the one who suddenly pulled away. _

_"I...I can't," she said breathlessly. "I mean I want to...but I can't. I should go."_

"_Wait." He grabbed her wrist as she left his arms, "Will you be alright?"_

_She nodded without looking at him. "If there's anything you need Lou-Anne…"_

"_I know," she replied. The rain had stopped so there was no excuse for her to stay, no matter how much she wanted to. She looked back at Bruce one last time and gave him a reassuring smile, then left._

_**End flashback.**_

Bruce had sat back down behind his desk staring at the picture he left on the desk, tracing the outline of Lou-Anne's red hair.

"Kori…I think it was your father that killed her. I strongly believe he had something to do with it." Kori was already speechless from Bruce's story. Her mind couldn't comprehend all the facts. There was so much to process, so much to make sense of. Wait a minute, him and her mother were…

"My mother got killed over a fling?" Kori's voice had changed to a stern and somewhat cold tone.

"Kori I…"

"She came to you that night to ask for your help…"

"You don't understand…"

"…and you took advantage of her!"

"Kori."

"I can't imagine someone like _you_ having any problems with dating. Why her Bruce? What was so special about her?" She had risen from her seat now and eyes were blazing in anger. "I can't believe you jeopardized her marriage for a fling!"

"It wasn't like that." Now Bruce rose with both fists on the table, looking at Kori with an intimidating stare.

"Then tell me! Tell me why! Tell me how you could let this happen!" She continued ranting showing no signs of stopping. Bruce had now come to stand just inches away from her.

"Why her? What could you have possibly felt for her?"

Kori continued shouting, she wasn't about to listen to reason, so he had to make her listen. He grabbed her by her shoulders and held her firmly. "Kori!"

Immediately she fell silent. "It wasn't like that Kori."

"So what was different about it then?" she replied in a deadly whisper.

He thought carefully about the next thing he would say to her. It wasn't that he wasn't sure of it, he hadn't been sure more of anything in his life, he just didn't know whether to tell Kori. "I..."

"You what?"

"I loved her."

* * *

**Ta da! Did you like it then? **

**I have no idea about stock market stuff and all that jazz, so if there were any stock junkies here reading and thinking..."What the hell...?" Then I'm really sorry if my made up stock report doesn't make sense. Of course if you think I could do better then I'm ready to hear suggestions. **

**Remember, review for me. And if you want your name mentioned then all you have to do is give me feedback. I love reviews!  
**


	7. Reality Bites

**Hey guys…**_laughs nervously_** …so…I see you've all been waiting for this update then, it's been what, since…February 2007? Yeeaah, anyway, I bet you're all ready to kill me, and possibly you might hate me even more for what you're about to read. **

**But before you stab your pitchforks into me I would like to say thanks to all the reviews, all the ones who put this story on their Favorites, and all the ones who put it on their alerts, and waited…and waited…and waited…you guys rock. **

**And I would like to say that I had to edit this story in some places as I wanted to make some character appearances, so you might have to read the whole story again, it might make better sense then.**

**Okay, so on with Chapter 7.**

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Reality Bites**

"_It wasn't like that Kori."_

"_So what was different about it then?" she replied in a deadly whisper._

_He thought carefully about the next thing he would say to her. It wasn't that he wasn't sure of it, he hadn't been sure more of anything in his life, he just didn't know whether to tell Kori. "I..." _

_"You what?"_

_"I loved her."_

* * *

After dinner was over that night Richard told Kori that he'd be in the library; intent on continuing with the investigation that had so much engrossed his attention. After all, he did promise his girlfriend he would get to the bottom of this, even with the so many questions that were yet to be answered. His eyes were beginning to droop of tiredness and he thought he'd been hearing things when he heard distant shouting. He quickly gathered his papers making sure they were in order and left to find out what was going on. 

As he neared following the commotion he was surprised not just by the fact that it was coming from Bruce's study, but that it was coming from Bruce and Kori, however most of it from Kori. He reached the source and burst into the study to see Bruce holding Kori by her shoulders while she held a look of pure shock in her eyes. Upon seeing Richard Bruce immediately let go of her and walked back behind his desk.

"What the hell is going on here?" Richard fumed. Silence. "Kori?"

Kori hesitated. "I just want to be alone Richard. Please, just leave me alone," She took her mother's picture and walked right past him out the door. He could only watch in bewilderment as his girlfriend left without another word scurrying down the hallway. _Something_ was going on and it seemed the only one who could give him any answers right now stood a few feet before him. He shut the door so that he and Bruce were alone in the deadly silence, though there was no promise of it staying that way for long.

* * *

Kori didn't know how long she'd been running for or where she was going, but she had to get away, the past seemed to show no mercy for her. She fled the Manor in the pouring rain without a care but stopped suddenly deciding to shelter under a tree. There she cried out all her emotions into her hands. 

"Rough day I take it?"

Her head shot up to see Xavier smiling lightly at her.

"I just…I just…needed to be on my own."

"Seems to me like you could do with some company. Hop in, I know a place that will make you feel."

It was evident on her face that she was hesitating by the notion.

"Don't worry Princess, I was only thinking of taking you to a coffee shop, I'm not taking you home…course I don't mind if that's where you want to go instead."

Xavier could see a hint of annoyance cross her face and knew she would reply with something he'd rather not hear, so he decided he wouldn't give her the chance.

"Relax, just trying to cheer you up. Now are you coming, or would you rather stay here in the rain, freezing your ass off?"

He had a point there, she would rather be somewhere warm and dry, even if that meant it had to be with Xavier, for the moment anyway. She walked round to the other side of the convertible, Xavier staring intently at her every move. The rain soaked her clothes through and made them stick to her body outlining her figure, which he appreciated very much. As soon as she got in he drove off making the tires screech…

* * *

"Richard I…" 

"What the hell did you say to her?!" Richard exploded.

Bruce gave an exasperated sigh rubbing his temples as he sat down.

"It was about her mother, we were talking about her."

Richard was confused. "What could you have said that would've upset her so much about her mom?"

Bruce sighed before he went on. "I told her that I was involved with Lou-Anne."

"Involved?" Richard questioned suspiciously, "As in…"

"Yes. An affair."

Alfred had nearly dropped the glass vase he'd been dusting upon hearing all the commotion going on. First it had been Kori and Bruce and now it was Bruce and Richard. For a moment the shouting seemed to have abruptly stopped but continued again just as suddenly, followed later by the slam of a door. Then he heard Richard calling Kori's name over and over, until he emerged coming face to face with Alfred.

"Have you seen Kori?"

"I'm afraid not Master Dick, I haven't seen her since just after dinner when she helped me clean up."

"_Dammit!"_ Richard muttered under his breath. He looked outside, it was pouring heavily. _"No, she wouldn't…"_ He immediately went to the closet searching for something.

"May I ask what you're looking for Master Dick?"

"Her jacket…it's not here." He continued looking shoving things out the way. "I don't she's here Alfred," he said looking to the concerned butler, then towards the window, "I think she could be out there…in that."

He paced back and forth taking deep breaths.

Alfred tried his best to console him. "Fear not Master Dick, if she has gone she can't have gone far, therefore it would be wise to go and look for her."

With one determined look he nodded his head. "You're right. I'll be back soon," he said leaving with his jacket and keys.

* * *

Kori had sat quietly in the booth waiting for Xavier to come back with their coffee. He hadn't bothered to ask her what she wanted, just simply told her that he was going to get some coffee for the both of them. Kori had nodded numbly. 

"Whatcha thinking about?"

She snapped out of her trance at his sudden voice. "Hm?"

"You seemed to be way off somewhere. Whatever it is that's got your attention, it must be something big," he said as he placed their drinks on the table and took his seat opposite hers.

She sighed closing her eyes for a moment. "Do you ever feel like when things are going bad and they get out of control, all you want to do is wake up, but you can't? Every time I learn about something that happened during my childhood it hits me hard, you know?"

"Kinda like a blast from the past, huh?" Xavier smirked.

She merely sighed. "My whole life could be a conspiracy for all I know."

"Because of your mom's so-called accident?"

His words caught her by surprise making her cast him an odd stare.

"I know a lot more than you think Kori, like how Lou-Anne Anders' death was passed off as 'just an accident'."

She stood silent unable to speak, Xavier took this as a sign to continue.

"You see, where I work gives me access to a lot of information. I've got clearance to places most people haven't even seen." He took a sip of his coffee before continuing, happy with the fact he had her undivided attention. "It was a shock to you too wasn't it, when you saw the file in the Commissioner's office, finding out the truth."

"W-what?" she gasped. "How did you…?"

"I was there cutie, and I had a chance to look at the file that day before you did. There was something I needed to…confirm, so I made a request to see it. I saw you when you came in with Gordon's daughter, you went into his office, and left with a little secret, didn't you? Careless of the Commissioner to leave it lying around for prying eyes, wasn't it?" He commented on the last part slyly.

She gave a long pause at first, as if trying to register what she just heard, then sighed in defeat. "Well I suppose I shouldn't be surprised, lately everyone seems to know more about my family background than I do."

He chuckled before his voice turned into a husky tone. "Don't worry cutie, I won't tell", then leaning forward slightly he placed his hand over hers. "Trust me".

Kori shivered unintentionally. "Thanks," she breathed hesitantly.

* * *

"_Where is she, where is she, where is she?"_

The rain continued to pour down as heavy as it did as Richard drove his bike desperately trying to keep an eye out for Kori. The weather had gotten worse, thus making it difficult for him to see clearly, so he had to stop his bike as it was getting dangerous on the slippery roads. His eyes caught a place where he could shelter himself a while, at least until the storm eased up, so that's where he stayed, waiting it out.

"_Wherever you are Kori, I hope you're okay."_

* * *

"So your father was a Senator?" 

"Uh huh, that's how I got to work for the Government," Xavier explained.

"So where is he now, is he still here in Gotham?" As she asked this she noticed Xavier's eyes darken.

"He's dead."

"Oh X, I'm so sorry."

"S'okay, it was years ago."

"Can I ask what happened, unless you prefer to keep it to yourself."

"He was murdered," he said like it was the most normal thing in the world.

Kory's hand flew to her mouth. "M-murdered?"

"Yeah, somebody shot him."

"What about your mom?"

"She's not around either, died as soon as I was born."

Kori felt immediate remorse for him, she didn't understand how Richard and the others could hate him so much. Xavier noticed she was in deep thought.

"Hey, no need to get yourself worried about me, what's done is done. Now lets forget about me and talk about you, lets start with…how you came back to Gotham…"

* * *

Richard thought it was best to make use of this time and find out if anyone else knew where Kori was, so he took out his phone and dialed a number. It rang a few times before he heard a voice on the other end. 

"Hello?"

"Vic, it's me."

"Hey Rich, what's up?"

"Have you seen Kory anywhere?"

"Kory? You lost her already? What happened?"

"I didn't lose her I…" As irritable as he was getting he remembered to keep his anger in check. "She just ran off okay, I don't know where she is. Now tell me, have you seen her or not?"

"Of course not man, I've been in the garage working on my car since I got back from eating pizza with you guys."

"Oh," Richard replied dejectedly and Vic could almost see him frowning.

"Hey look, I'll tell you what, if I find out anything I'll give you a call."

"Yeah, thanks Vic. I appreciate it." He hung up and sighed before dialing another number.

* * *

"Who was that?" 

Vic turned around quickly to be met with Karen standing in the doorway of his garage.

"Oh that was just Rich, he's looking for Kori."

"Why, what happened?"

"I don't know, but I wouldn't worry, I'm sure he'll find her."

"Yeah, there's no stopping Richard Grayson. So shouldn't you be getting some sleep, it's 11:15 you know," she said sitting on a nearby bench.

"Shouldn't you?"

"Yes, but I'm not the one who has to go to work in the early morning," she replied cheekily, to which he rolled his eyes and continued what he was doing with his car. "By the way, how is work coming along with your…students?"

"The team? Yeah, they're looking good, nothing like coaching the NBA All Star team."

"Sparky, they're still in elementary school," she laughed, "they're not MVPs."

"Yeah, but they will be. What kind of coach would I be if I didn't have faith in my own team?"

"No worse than you already are?"

Karen knew it was a mistake to say that when she saw Vic look up with that evil smirk dangling a dirty rag cloth in his hand. And _he_ knew she didn't like to get dirty.

"You're not really going to touch me with that, are you?" Karen said backing away slowly.

"What do you think?"

With a yelp Karen ran with Vic chasing her around the garage. He eventually caught her and made sure to rub all over her face with the cloth before letting her go.

"Aww Vic! That was mean. I just washed this yesterday."

"Serves you right Bee," he said before pulling her in for a kiss.

After they cleaned up they sat in Vic's room looking over some Science Lab company brochures they had collected over the past months.

Vic yawned stretching his arms above his head. "I don't think I'm ready for that exam Bee."

Bee stopped skimming through her brochure to glare at him. "Oh no, you'd better not have cold feet, because I'm not graduating without you Sparky. You know it's our dream to work at STAR Labs, even if we will start out as interns, and we both worked so hard to get to where we are now. We're in this together, remember?"

Vic slumped on his bed as Karen came to cuddle next to him. "Yeah, I know Bee, together," he said putting an arm around her shoulder.

"It seems like only yesterday when we met in High School, remember that?" Vic chuckled while she smiled comfortingly at him.

"I know one thing, if your parents could see you now, they'd be proud."

Karen rarely brought up the subject of Vic's parents, ever since the accident that took their lives Vic had found it difficult to express how he felt. However meeting Karen in High School brought about a change in him, a change he liked. It wasn't just that he shared a common academic interest with her, but she also brought out the best in him. They just clicked, whether they were just friends or more than friends.

* * *

A few phone calls later and still nothing. Richard was losing his mind. Still, the rain had let up some, which meant that he could go back to the search. Just then he heard his phone and quickly answered it without looking at the ID. 

"Yeah?"

"_Richard?"_

"Oh, Bruce, it's you."

"_Listen Richard, I know you're looking for her and you want to find her, but you need to come home."_

"You expect me to leave her out here in God knows where?"

"_If you get sick you won't be able to do your…other duties." _

He was right, and Richard knew it, and he also hated it. "Alright, alright, I'll be right there."

"_Don't worry, we're not going to stop looking, we'll find her."_

* * *

Kori's mood seemed a little better than before as she sat in the passenger seat beside Xavier, she was grateful for the time to ease her mind. The rain had stopped as they pulled up outside the gates of the Manor, knowing how much Richard hated Xavier she didn't want to create a scene. 

"Thanks again X, I actually enjoyed that."

"I knew you would," he smirked, then took her hand and kissed it lightly. "See you around cutie."

Kori simply smiled at him as she got out of the car and shut the door, then, with one last look at each other, they went their separate ways.

As Xavier drove away his thoughts lingered on the troubled young red head. He was almost at regret about what he was truly doing. His orders were to get close to the target, gain her trust, and when the timing was right he would know what to do. He had to admit when he first laid eyes on her he couldn't tear himself away, and then he found out that she was the objective. Poor Kori, she had no idea what she was a part of. His doubts were beginning to grow when his phone rang.

"Yeah?"

"_Hello X"_, a sinister voice replied. _"I know you got my message."_

The voice heard a frustrated sigh escape from the other end.

"_Why didn't you return my message?"_

"Been busy."

"_Having fun with the mission?" _Xavier knew he was talking about Kori, and could almost see the smirk on his lips._ "You forget I know these things, X. I know how your young, feeble minds work."_

"So what do you want?" Xavier asked wanting to get to the point.

"_To make sure you'll be at the meeting tomorrow night, I expect you __**all**__ to show up, no excuses."_

"I'll be there."

"_That's what I like to hear. Oh and X, next time I send a message, I expect it to be acknowledged. Are we clear?"_

There was silence before Xavier spoke. "Yeah Slade, clear as crystal," and hung up.

* * *

That same hour a tired and exhausted Kori was in the arms of a relieved yet concerned Richard. They lay on his bed as the moonlit gleamed on the two figures. He was so worried about her disappearance earlier, and when she returned immediately had her cleaned up with something warm to drink. Bruce wasn't around that night, just like most nights, but Alfred said he apologizes about earlier. Richard remembered what it was that set Kori running off, and that's why he was concerned for her, he wished he could find out what she was thinking. Barging through his shield of nerves he summoned up the courage to ask her. 

"You…want to talk about it?"

She shifted in his embrace before she replied. "Not at the moment."

"Where did you go anyway?"

"Nowhere special, I just wanted to be alone."

There was a pause before he spoke again.

"You know you can tell me anything, I just thought you should know."

"Yes, I know, but I'm tired, and I just want to sleep right now…if that's alright with you?"

"Yeah, it's fine." Richard sighed and nodding against her head, understanding that perhaps she needed time. They lay together silently as they drifted off in each other's embrace.

* * *

The few days that followed had Richard completely absorbed in the ongoing case. Kory would be surprised at the amount of time he'd spend cooped up in one room, but sometimes he would disappear for hours on end, and when she asked about his whereabouts, he would brush her off telling her it wasn't her concern. It was her mother's death, why _wouldn't_ this be her concern? His secretiveness was beginning to get to her, and though she appreciated all the time he was putting into uncovering the truth, she missed the old Richard, _her_ Richard. 

She now sat there in the living room and turned on the TV in hopes to treat her boredom. Grabbing the remote she mindlessly flicked the channels pausing merely a few seconds before changing it again. After going through only half of the channel list she flunked back on the sofa and sighed. The commercials were going on which went ignored, after which the news came on.

"_A robbery was unexpectedly foiled last night when the famous caped crusaders charged in on the scene, preventing the criminals from raiding the bank just behind me. These video shots were taken from their security cameras last night as Batman and Robin apprehended these men and handed them over to Gotham Police. We are yet to receive a statement from Commissioner Gordon."_

Kori's attention suddenly perked up at the mention of the strange nocturnal heroes, they seemed quite fond of the night. This was the first time she had actually seen them. Before she had only heard things about them from her father and the friends he kept, but always wondered if they even existed. They would often speak negatively of them as if they were the worst beings created, but Kori found herself admiring them because of their selfless acts. She knew her father cared less for that kind of thing; it wasn't in his nature to think of others before himself, he was completely opposite her mother. The news ended and she turned the TV off, just as Alfred walked in.

"Good afternoon, Miss Kori. I take it Master Richard is still occupied in his affairs?"

"I believe so, Alfred," she sighed.

Alfred noticed she had been moping around the Manor a lot lately, and thought he would offer to cheer her up.

"The young Master and I would quite often engage in a game of chess, might you be interested in a match perhaps?"

Kori put a finger to her chin in thought. "Hm, I've never played chess before, but, perhaps I would like to learn."

Alfred smiled as he took out the game from one of the shelves and set it up for them. He was only too glad to play teacher for the curious young red head, as he had once did for a headstrong young boy.

* * *

Grady's Pet Store was known for its prestigious customers. Everyone and anyone would come and get their pets from there, and Garfield happened to work there. He asked Rachel to come over and see him there telling her it was really important, and waited for her to arrive while he worked the last shift. 

He suddenly heard the bell of the door ring as he was dragging a huge sack of something inside the store and looked up to see Rachel wearing her usual black and gray clothes.

"Hey Rachel, glad you could make it," he panted as he stood up, wiping his hands clean.

"So what's this about, Gar? You said it was important."

"Well you don't waste any time, do you? Okay then." She watched him disappear in the back while, hearing a shuffling noise and a few light thumps that sounded like boxes falling.

"Need any help in there?" She called to him.

"Nah, I got it," he called back, before he emerged again and handed her something. "Here."

Rachel looked at it oddly and realized that it was…"My book. You found it?"

"Heh, yeah," he said nervously rubbing the back of his neck, "I had my car cleaned out and sure enough, I found it."

A small smile played on her lips. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said, fidgeting a lot more nervously now. "Hey, I finish here in fifteen minutes, want to go do something later?" Garfield braced himself for her refusal.

"Sure, why not," she replied; only to make a young Garfield jump for joy.

"Great, just after that I need to go get my camera back from Kori. That okay?"

"I guess, but you might wanna call to see if they're busy."

"There's no need for that, even if they are we can take advantage of Richard's game room," Garfield said rubbing his palms together.

* * *

Four games later and the score was tied between Alfred and Kori. Alfred didn't expect her to be a fast learner, it was remarkable how she played. Neither of them noticed someone else watching them from afar. 

"I see you've met your match Al."

Both heads turned to look up at Richard who stood there grinning at them.

"She does seem to have a natural grasp of tactics, doesn't she?"

"Yeah Kor, I think you'd be very useful to Bruce."

"And then I would always be busy, and you would hardly see me, just like it has been with you lately," she said cheekily.

"Yeah, sorry about that. What do you say we go and make up for lost time?"

"But what about our game?"

"Oh it's alright, Miss Kori, we can resume this at a later time," Alfred said getting up. "Besides, Master Bruce will be expecting something to eat soon."

With that said Richard pulled Kori to her feet and they walked off, hand in hand.

"So did those pictures develop yet?" He asked her as they reached the staircase.

"Oh yes, I almost forgot," she said and ran upstairs quickly. "I'll be right back, stay there," she called.

"Okay!" The camera she borrowed from Gar recently had kept her a little busy, she seemed to like taking pictures which made him smile. He soon saw her come down with a set of photographs in her hand.

"Here," she said handing one for him to see. The picture was of Alfred baking cookies in the kitchen, just before he was about to put them in the oven. "That must've been the first one I took."

"Looks good," said Richard, mesmerized.

"No it's not, the picture's not even straight and…"

"Actually I was talking about the cookies."

Kori gave him a glare and slapped him playfully on the chest before handing him a few more, one after another.

"Oh, I like this one," Kori said, a sly smile playing on her lips, making Richard very curious.

"Which one?"

"This one." She showed him the picture but kept it in her hand, not really wanting to give it to her. It was of Richard in nothing but a towel just coming out of the bathroom, and the surprised look on his face when the picture was taken.

"Perhaps I will show this to Karen and Terra, and maybe Rachel…"

"No way," he said making a grab for the photo, but Kori anticipated his move and was quicker, yanking it out of reach before running off down the halls. Richard chased after and before they knew it were locked in a struggle together, not realizing that they had moved one of the wall candle holders opening a secret door opened. Kori was the first to see it while Richard was only focused on getting that picture back. She unconsciously let him take it while she got up and headed for the passageway.

Richard had his back turned trying to hide the picture in his shirt. "Let's see you try and get it now, huh Kori…" the blood drained from his face as soon as he turned around and saw the secret passage open and that Kori was half way down.

"Kori stop! Come back!" He called after her, but she didn't listen, she was too mesmerized by what she was seeing.

It was a cave, a dark, shadowy cave that lit up as soon as had entered. Down at the bottom she could see a control panel with a large screen, across from there where the Bat Car was parked, and not too far off a glass case with uniforms in them. The first she did not recognize, but the other two she knew were of Batman and Robin's.

Richard had followed her frantically, desperately wanting to stop her before she saw too much, but by the gasped look on her face he knew he was too late. "Kory?" He tried to reach out to her when he was mere inches away from her on the stairs but she pushed passed him and went back to the Manor.

"Kory!"

She ignored the calls of her name and continued walking, until she felt a hand grab her wrist to turn her around and face its owner.

"Kory, you gotta listen to me."

"Don't bother trying to explain! I can't believe you wouldn't tell me that were…" She couldn't bring herself to say that name, the name of the masked person he'd been living as. "How could you keep something like that from me?"

"Kory, I swear, I was thinking about telling you, I really was, but it wasn't that easy."

"Easy? I'm your best friend…at least I thought I was."

Richard was shocked to hear the doubt in her voice. "And you still are, it's just that…"

"You don't trust me," she finished for him.

"No, that's not it." But Kory wouldn't hear anymore, she snatched her wrist back and stormed away, Richard following closely behind.

Alfred came out quickly to see what the commotion was, he tried to follow the voices but was interrupted by the buzzer on the intercom.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Hey there Alfred. It's Gar and Rachel, could you let us in?"

Alfred hesitated for a moment. "I don't think now is the best time to…:"

"Aw please, I just need to get my camera from Kori, then we'll be gone before you know it."

The gates opened allowing the visitors inside. "Thanks Al," said Garfield as he got into gear drove into the grounds.

"I don't think we should be here," Rachel said in doubt.

"Come on, lighten up, we're just going to see our friends right?"

"I know, Alfred _was_ saying it wasn't the best time before you interrupted him."

"He said he **thinks **it's not the best time, that doesn't mean it really isn't the best time."

"Whatever."

They eventually reached the door to the Manor and knocked three times before Alfred opened it. He stepped aside so they could walk in.

"So, where's Richard?" Garfield asked. All of a sudden they heard muffled shouting coming from somewhere in the Manor. They all exchanged looks and Garfield was beginning to think Rachel was right about calling first. Soon they saw Richard walking moodily towards them with his head down.

"What do you guys want?" He said when he looked up.

"Everything okay Richard?" Rachel asked him.

Richard gave an exasperated sigh. "No, no it's not!" He snapped.

"Then what happened dude?"

"Look, this isn't a good time, okay?" he snapped again and turned to walk off.

"I wonder if this is anything to do with Kori being out with X that night." Garfield only meant for it to be a murmur when he leaned across to Rachel's ear, but Richard heard him.

"What?" he whipped around, making Garfield freeze on the spot. "What did you say?"

"N-n-nothing, nothing at all."

Richard stomped over to him so that he loomed over his body. "Tell me what you meant," he said through gritted teeth.

"Just that I thought you guys were fighting about Kori being with X a few nights ago."

"Why would you think that?" he demanded, eyes fixed on him.

"B-because I saw him with her having a drink together. Don't be mad Rich, it was probably noth-"

Richard just stormed off leaving the three standing alone in the eerie silence, until Rachel nudged Garfield.

"Ow, what was that for?"

"Nice move big mouth."

"Well how was I supposed to know what they were really fighting about?"

"It's none of our business anyway." Rachel rubbed her temples in exasperation. There's nothing more we can do so let's just get out of here."

"But my camera…"

"We'll come back for it later, let's just go before you cause more trouble."

Kori paced around in the living room, heartbroken, hurt, and feeling a mass of other emotions altogether. She didn't want to fight, not with him, not after everything he had done for her, still doing for her. There were just too many secrets, too many things she'd wished she'd known earlier. She flopped down on a chair with her head in her hands.

"You didn't tell me you were out with X that night."

Her head quickly shot up at Richard too see him staring at her coldly.

"W-what?"

"The night you ran away, is it true you were with _him_?" The emphasis on 'him' didn't go unnoticed by Kori. She was puzzled at how he could've found out about that.

"Richard, we just had coffee together, that's all."

"That's all, huh?" He chuckled sinisterly. "You told me you wanted to be alone."

"I did but…"

"I guess you meant you wanted to be alone with him, am I right?" He was shouting now, his rage surfacing even more.

"I didn't ask for his company."

"But you were glad he was there."

"He listened to me!" She said trying to match his volume. "We talked and found out so much about each other. Honestly I don't understand why you hate him."

"He doesn't care about you, he only wants you for the wrong reasons! He doesn't give a damn about your personality. He'll have you in his bed before you know it because you're so damn naive!"

Kori was shocked to hear all this coming from Richard. "I can't believe you're saying this. We just shared one moment together, we talked, he dropped me home and that was it."

"So why didn't you tell me if that's all it was?"

Her silence said it all.

"Looks like you don't trust me either," he said before leaving her standing in the middle of the room on the verge of tears.

* * *

At 9 am Karen liked to jog in the mornings before she would be ready for college. Luckily she lived close to the campus so she didn't have to leave her home. She had just got in and went to check her messages on her machine. There was only one incoming call but no message. 

"_Hm, a call from Kori. I wonder what she wants?"_

She pressed a button to automatically call her back and used her shoulder to hold it against her ear while she rummaged in her fridge for the juice. It rang only twice before she heard a familiar voice.

"_Hello."_

"Kori, hi. It's me."

"_Oh, hi Karen."_

'I saw that you called earlier, what up?"

"_Oh yes, well, I was wondering if you could…would you…"_

Karen sensed the strangeness in her tone and wondered if she was alright. "You okay, Kor? You don't sound so good."

"_I just need a place to stay Karen, just for a while, and I was wondering if I could… stay with you?"_

"Stay with me? Girl what happened? You and Rich had a falling out?"

"_Please Karen, I don't know what else to do."_

Feeling sorry for her she gladly obliged, but was baffled by why Kori would want to leave a place where someone had kept her really happy. Kori told her to pick her up in five minutes outside the Manor, where she'll be waiting.

As Kory placed the phone down she couldn't help but sob a little at her decision. She knew what she was doing wasn't right, but she didn't want to stay after the fight she had with Richard. Slowly she zipped up her bag and looked around her bedroom, the bedroom he made for her. She wanted this to be a temporary arrangement, but even she wasn't sure.

When it was almost time she gradually she lifted her bag off her bed and dragged it out of her room and downstairs to the foyer. She was about to open the front door when Richard came out of nowhere and couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Kori? What are you doing?"

Sighing, she said, "I can't take it anymore Richard, I have to be somewhere else."

Richard came in front of the door to block her exit. "Why? It was just one stupid fight. We can work this out, right?"

He sounded heartbroken which was making this harder for Kori to deal with. "Look, Richard, it's not that, it's everything. I can't be here, it's too much, too much pain."

"No. Kori don't leave. You belong here, you belong with me. Please stay. I promise I'll do whatever it takes to make you happy."

There was a knock on the door before it opened and Karen peeked her head through cautiously. "Kori, it's me. Are you ready to go?"

"No she's not," Richard snapped and grabbed Kori's hand walking her away only to have her snatch it back and push past him to grab her things and leave.

"So that's it Kor? This is how it ends?" Kori stopped and looked back, a hurt expression in he eyes.

"I'm sorry." Those were her last words to him before she disappeared outside the door, leaving Richard standing there frozen.

* * *

_Okay, I don't think this chapter was very good. I might edit this one, but I wanted to put this up quickly because it was well overdue. _

_ So, I bet most of you are certain you want to hang me from the gallows for making them break up. Anyone need a spare box of tissues by the way?  
_


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